


The Lion's Goddess

by BlackRose015



Category: Fairy Tail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2019-10-16 13:58:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 59,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17550983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackRose015/pseuds/BlackRose015
Summary: Sometimes the smallest change can alter everything. It can bring back forgotten memories. Dig up buried history. Retell tales lost since the beginning of magic. Reforge a brothers bond. It can wake a sleeping demon. And sometimes, just sometimes, it can revive a long-sleeping evil - one from the dawn of magic, from the birth of stars.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted on Fanfiction.net

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cross-posted on Fanfiction.net

"Phew, that was a close call." Lucy carefully cracked an eye open as she heard the all too familiar voice of her trusted Celestial Spirit Leo the Lion, called Loke, as he grinned down at his blonde master.

"Are you alright, hime?" Lucy nodded, surprised that the lion spirit was there; she didn't summon him. She didn't even have her keys with her at the moment –Minerva, her opponent in the Navel Battle, somehow managed to take them away from her.

"Don't look so surprised, hime, though I admit it makes you look cuter, you know I always come to your aid when you need me." The Celestial Spirit mage smiled gratefully at her friend.

"Thank you, Loke." Loke grinned before he turned serious and placed Lucy down -who he held until now in bride style-, after making sure that she could float alone again in the water bubble. He could admit that he was quite worried as he felt that Lucy was in danger and didn't have her keys with her. She was lucky he could force open his own gate.

 

The stadium on the other hand was – while Lucy and Loke talked - in a state of surprise. Just as Sabertooth's Queen wanted to strike the Fairy Tail mage, a golden light appeared and the Fairy Tail mage was being held by an orange-haired man in a suit, Minerva's strike going into empty space. Minerva herself was surprised too, though she was able to hide it and something else rivalled the surprise: rage.

She was pissed that someone dared to interrupt her, to take her prey out of her clutches. The Fairy Tail Guild, on the other hand, cheered for the Zodiac leader spirit who just saved their celestial spirit mage.

"A spirit, able to force his own gate open in order to come to his master's aid, how impressive," the bald-but-hiding-it commentator mumbled but, thanks to his microphone in front of him, everyone heard him.

"So cool!" the reporter of 'Sorcerer Magazine' and fan of the destructive Fairy Tail, as well as guest-commentator shouted into his microphone.

"Loke's ability to come to Lucy's aid while his key is with Minerva, is really impressive to say the least, but not too surprising considering his loyalty to Miss Lucy," the oldest of the three, former council member and friend of Fairy Tail's Guild Master, mused with a small smile.

 

"Care to share why you didn't summon Aquarius the second you learned this would be in water, hime?" Lucy frowned with a huff, and puffed her cheeks out, pouting.

"I did, but she decided a date with Scorpio was what she preferred." Loke raised an eyebrow, before deciding that he should have seen that one coming.

"I'll talk with her when I get back. Drenching you in water, being rude, things like leaving with Scorpio in the battle with Angel, also cutting the enemies lines so, okay, not the best behaviour but okay we can work with that. Leaving you in a water battle with a caster magic user to go on a date is not okay."

"Loke, you don't have to." Images of Aquarius threating her after getting scolded by her leader ran through Lucy's head, making her shake her head to drive them away.

"It's alright, hime, don't worry about that now, let's concentrate on the matter at hand." Loke turned around for the first time since facing Minerva.

"Damn…not good." Lucy blinked, surprised, looking up at the taller spirit: it wasn't often that Loke cursed especially when facing a woman – his flirtatious character forbade it - but the second he faced Minerva Lucy could hear Loke growl through his clenched teeth. The timer of the clock jumped on four minutes. Loke's eyes flitted over to the big, bright numbers before fixing on Minerva again.

"That timer, hime?"

"It's the countdown. If Minerva or I fall out of this sphere, we'll get last place. We can't lose this round too, or Fairy Tail…" Loke gave a curt nod in understanding.

"When the timer is up one of you gets first, the other gets second place…I see…So we have to keep you in here until it hits zero, ideally unhurt."

"Or we manage to get Minerva out first -which would be the best-, and if we work together we could-" Lucy stopped as Loke shook his head slightly.

"We're in water, hime," Loke reminded the blonde mage.

 

"I'm a lion spirit, a 'grown-up cat' if we go with Happy's definition, and while I don't tend to act like a little kitten does when it gets wet and falls into water, and while small or normal amounts don't really affect me, this amount is. Or, in other words, I'm weaker in here."

"Nani?!"

"You sound so surprised…you didn't know? You always summon Aquarius close to water, I thought you knew." Lucy blinked again, she didn't know that the area she summoned a spirit could affect them, she only summoned Aquarius in water because the blue-haired spirit threatened to drown her if she didn't.

"I see…well don't worry, hime, I'll keep you in the game until the time's up." The blond girl smiled and nodded; she had complete trust in the golden key spirit.

"You two finally finished? Decided to give up?" Minerva grinned, sadistically.

"You can forget it, Minerva! I –we- won't give up! We'll show you that Fairy Tail is the strongest Guild in Fiore!" Minerva laughed at the -in her eyes- small fry's big announcement. Loke's lion ears on top of his head -one could argue if they really were his ears or just part of his hair- twitched slightly and Lucy, too, could hear the laughter behind and around them.

"You, the weakest of the weakest Guild, want to beat me: the strongest member of the strongest Guild in all of Fiore?" Minerva's laugh echoed through the stadium as she raised her hand, a soft glow coming from it. "We'll see."

 

At the last moment before they were hit, Loke pulled Lucy aside and glared at the beam of heat as it ripped through the water wall, splashing water onto the ground below.

"A water mage? No, she'd attack differently if she were…nor is she a fire mage; she wouldn't be able to control the direction that well…" Loke swirled around and blocked Minerva's hit aimed at Lucy with his arm, while mumbling about what kind of magic the black-haired woman could use. With a sadistic grin, the black-haired woman aimed a kick at the spirit's head, only to have the spirit let himself fall backwards. In his fall, the Lion twisted slightly and used his knee, aiming for Minerva's side. With one hand, the Sabertooth mage caught the knee, while with the other she reached forward to the lion's head, another glow emitting from her hand.

An explosion moved the whole water sphere, a pressure wave sent Lucy sailing to the edge.

 

"Oh my, oh my! It seems as if Miss Minerva and Miss Lucy's spirit are on par right now!" The bald -though wearing a wig- commentator's voice boomed through the stadium, making Sabertooth and their supporters angry and provoking glares, while the other Guilds –especially the ones friends with Fairy Tail- were quite happy; they didn't want Sabertooth to win the games again.

 

Minerva, meanwhile, glared at the Lion, her face twisted in rage. Loke on the other hand, while also having something of a frown on his face, couldn't help but let his lips curl up in a grin, while keeping his eyes on the black-haired woman who was back in the middle of their battle field. A moment of silence and analysing the other passed, before Minerva raised her hand again. A greenish-blackish beam passed Loke as he dodged and, raising his own hand, shot his golden coloured light magic at Minerva, who didn't try to dodge.

"How can she be unharmed after that?!" Natsu's angry voice echoed through the silence as Minerva appeared before Loke, aiming at his face with her fist. The orange-haired lion's head snapped back as the fist connected with his cheekbone; he wasn't fast enough to dodge it completely but at least he didn't get his nose broken by a direct hit in the face.

 

"Territory."

 

"What?" Minerva stared at the man before her. They were still in the position they were when she had hit him; her hovering before him, arm still outstretched and Loke half-way bent backwards through force of her hit. Loke grinned again.

"Territory. A space manipulating magic that's considered a war-god magic. Quite powerful, I dare to say…but it seems as if you haven't been able to trigger its full power until now."

"Not it's full power?"

"Oh yes. You never wondered why there is a lost time magic but not lost space magic? It's because Territory is actual the opposite to the 'Arc of Time' magic. With the Yakuma clan taking it and making it 'their' magic, specializing themselves in the spells known today, the others were forgotten, thus the other spells are lost and have disappeared out of human minds. People have forgotten the full power of it." Minerva stared at the male as he pulled himself up in a vertical position, a nice bruise decorating the right side of his face where she had hit him.

"I admit, you really know how to punch, that one hurt."

"What? Afraid already?" Loke stopped rubbing his bruised cheek and grinned. Lucy frowned as she saw that grin; it was different from the one he had before, and she feared she knew what it meant. He always had that grin when…Lucy's trail of thoughts was interrupted as Loke opened his mouth.

 

"Afraid? No. I think I'm in love, my beautiful war-goddess." Lucy and the rest of Fairy Tail face-palmed. Only Loke would go and proclaim his love for the enemy in the middle of the battle –though he usually didn't do that when the battle was serious.

While Fairy Tail was busy face-palming and shaking their heads, Minerva's eyebrow started to twitch dangerously at the spirits proclamation and on Sabertooth's balcony Rogue had to hold Sting back from jumping into the battlefield and killing the spirit.

"I hate playboys."

"So, if I wasn't one, you'd love me back?" Instead of answering, Minerva kicked Loke's stomach. Dodging the lousily thrown kick by darting to the side, the lion threw a punch at Minerva, only to have her dodging it too.

 

While the two parties threw punch after punch and kick after kick at each other, dodging the other's attacks and only rarely getting hit, Lucy had to wonder if the water even weakened Loke, as she watched from the side-lines. According to him, it did, but watching him keep up with Minerva made her wonder if it was really true and if it was how strong Loke would be if she could summon him at his full power. Lucy wasn't stupid or arrogant enough to believe that she could summon her spirits on full power –her own magical energy still wasn't strong enough for that, at the moment. She had to admit that she probably couldn't summon a single one of the Zodiacs on their full power.

 

The beeping sound of the countdown echoed through the stadium; the last ten seconds had begun. Loke drifted in front of Lucy, panting heavily, his back turned to her and not noticing that he was in front of her. Minerva too was panting heavily as she wiped a small blood stain from her mouth with the back of her hand; Loke had got her good there with a right hook, making her lip bleed.

Nine.

Green eyes noticed the blonde behind the man.

Eight.

Minerva's lips curled into a sadistic smirk.

Seven.

Raising her arm, a greenish-blackish tomoe swirled around her hand.

Six.

Loke's eyes widened as he noticed that she wasn't looking at him.

Five.

The orange mane whipped as the Lion's head jerked around to see Lucy behind him, close to the edge.

Four.

He could hear Erza shouting at Lucy to get away from there as he faced Minerva again.

Three.

" **Ih Ragdo!** "

" **Regulus Impact!** "

Two.

The two magic beams met half way, greenish-black colliding with the golden light.

One.

Hazel eyes widened in shock as the golden light was ripped apart by the other beam, which moved towards the zodiac leader and his master.

Zero.

The signal, that declared the end of the match, didn't ring a second too soon. The very second everyone registered the end of the battle, Minerva's beam ripped through the water sphere's shell, leaving two bodies crashing into a wall as it disappeared.

Loke, who used his own body to shield Lucy as well as he could from the attack and the impact of the wall, and Lucy, who hung limp in Loke's arms, having been knocked out by the shockwaves of Minerva's magic and the crash into the wall.

The whole audience was in a silent state of shock and surprise. No, not the whole audience. Gray and Natsu had both jumped down onto the field and were running towards Lucy and her lion spirit, who fell down head-first, as a huge part of the wall crashed down from the impact. In the last moment, the ice and the fire mage managed to catch the two, so they didn't crash onto the ground unshielded.

"Luce! Loke!" The lion cracked an eye open as he heard Natsu shouting his name and looked at the two men that saved him and Lucy from their fall.

"Thanks."

"Go back into the Celestial Spirit world and rest, we'll take care of Lucy from here." Loke nodded and followed Gray's order, disappearing into his realm and leaving Lucy with Gray and Natsu.

 

"So…who won?" The wig wearing commentator looked helplessly at the pumpkin-headed referee for help as he asked the question most were asking themselves. The referee himself looked between Minerva, who was still in the water bubble glaring daggers at the blonde Fairy Tail mage, and Lucy, who was carried towards the rest of Fairy Tail by Natsu.

"It's...it's a tie?" Mato himself was surprised at the outcome of the battle, as was the rest of the audience. Sabertooth had been the strongest guild for years now, and their strongest member didn't win! It ended in a tie against Fairy Tail, who has been considered the weakest guild for years.

"A tie! A tie! Fairy Tail got a tie against Sabertooth' strongest mage!" A whole bunch of shouts, out of rage and surprise rang through the whole place, mixed with cries of joy. Not that it mattered for Fairy Tail at that moment as they joined Gray and Natsu in bringing Lucy away from the field.

 

Minerva on the other hand teleported –with the help of Territory- from the battle field and marched out of the stadium, angry about not having been able to beat the little cry-baby and her kitty into a bloody mess, and slightly confused about what the kitten had said about her magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my Beta Rainiebug (Fanfiction.net name)


	2. Chapter 2

Groaning, Lucy slowly opened her eyes and had to quickly press them shut again; the white of the room blinding her and made her throbbing head hurt even more. Her body felt quite numb, only her head and neck were killing her. What happened again? Oh, yeah, the Navel Battle, Aquarius leaving her alone in the middle of the battle, her keys being taken, nearly getting beaten up by Minerva, Loke saving her, the Lion and Minerva fighting, Loke and herself getting thrown out of the battle field by Minerva.

Lucy sat straight in her bed, eyes ripped wide open.

 

Loke!

 

He fought for her and kept her from serious harm, but in return he took all the blows. Frantically, Lucy looked around, searching for her keys, only to find them dropped onto the nightstand beside the bed she was sitting in. A relieved sigh escaped Lucy; her beloved keys were there with her, sparkling slightly in their golden and silver colours in the light of the lamp. She was actually worried that they were still with Minerva, Lucy didn't even want to start imagining what the Sabertooth mage would have done with her keys. Though, now wasn't the time to imagine all the horrible things Minerva could do to her keys if she had them. She had a spirit to check on and to thank. Reaching out for her keys, fully intending to summon the lion spirit, Lucy stopped her movement as she heard the lion's voice behind her.

 

"You're not planning on summoning any spirits in your weakened state, are you, hime?" Lucy swirled around coming face to face with the spirit she had just wanted to check on. Standing beside her bed, dressed in his usual suit, already being perfectly healed and flashing her his usual flirty grin, stood Loke.

"Though if you wanted to summon me for a date, I gladly accept."

"Idiot." A pillow hit Loke in the face, making him laugh.

"I only wanted to thank you for helping me out and I also wanted to check on you; you took quite some blows," said Lucy, worriedly.

"Don't worry, hime, I'm your knight in shining amour; it's my honorable duty to come and aid you anyway possible." Lucy sighed but smiled. With the Lion being his usual self, Lucy took it as a sign for him being okay. The mattress slightly bent under Loke's weight as he sat down, the pillow Lucy had thrown at him in his hands.

 

"How are you? You were knocked out in the end." Lucy blinked; Loke seemed more serious than usual. Normal Loke rarely acted seriously when the situation didn't call for it.

"I'm fine, thanks to you…But what's with you? You took all the beating for me."  
Loke waved his hand, dismissively.

"Don't worry about me; I'm fine. You know, we Celestial Spirits are quite tough, and we combat Spirits are even tougher." Lucy smiled; Loke had the tendency to make her feel better whenever she was down and needed someone, someone that wasn't Team Natsu or someone of Fairy Tail. The lion was actually a good listener... when he wanted to be, and could offer advice when needed, or simply cared and would just be there, being himself. The blonde mage could admit that she was grateful for Loke being her friend, he was…like an older annoying brother –annoying yes, but an brother no less-, his tendency to flirt with her and tease her put aside. He was like an older brother who loved to tease and annoy the hell out of his younger sibling and showing up whenever he wanted, most of the time, but he also was a caring older brother who was there when she needed him and was willing to do everything possible to help her –even the impossible.

 

"Oi, hime, you in there?" Loke tapped against her forehead slightly, like one did when knocking at a door.

"Stop it, Loke," Lucy huffed. Said Spirit only chuckled slightly, again.

"Just wanted to make sure you're still with me, hime."

Lucy growled, making the Spirit chuckle a bit more. "Do you know which place we got?"

The orange-haired spirit shook his head as he answered, "No, I went back before it was announced. I admit, I didn't really care; you being safe with Natsu and Gray was enough for me at that moment. You know, your beloved Natsu looked quite worried about you to me." A mischievous grin was on Loke's face as he looked at his master.

"Shut up Leo! He's not my beloved!" Hiding her face in embarrassment, the blonde didn't notice the Lion rolling his eyes at her denial. Just why did Loke have to tease her about Natsu now, was what went through her head.

 

"Okay, okay, let's be serious now Lucy." The celestial Spirit mage raised her head slightly, looking at her spirit, whose flirting grin and teasing twinkle in the eye disappeared.

"I talked with Aquarius" A painful, maybe pitiful, groan from Lucy interrupted Loke and made him raise an eyebrow in question. A skill Lucy envied the lion for; whenever she tried to raise just one eyebrow- in question or god knows what- it either was that both went up or she ended up looking like a grimacing monkey or both! None of it made her look any better than the monkey option.

"You really want her to kill me, do you hate me this much?"

"Of course not Lucy," ah, yeah Lucy forgot that serious Loke wouldn't know humor if it bit him on his behind, so he wouldn't react to it, "and Aquarius wouldn't kill you. She cares for you, like I and the other spirits do too, and that's why she had decided it would have been better for you if she left."

Lucy looked expectantly at Loke, urging him to explain.

"She thought that you, if she left, would give up willingly. This may not seem caring at all at first, but the reasoning behind it isn't too far-fetched. You see, Aquarius being busy with countering Juvia's attacks couldn't have helped you as she had to focus on those, leaving you open for the others to attack. So, as she saw the first one out she decided: better you get one of the lower places than getting hurt. It probably would have been better if she told you that, but no need to cry over spilled milk."

Lucy silently agreed with Loke about the water spirit's reasoning not being too far-fetched now that she heard it, but even if Aquarius would have told her… "I wouldn't have thrown the match either way."

 

Loke grinned as he shrugged his shoulders before calmly stating, "Not that I'm surprised, you're a stubborn girl, hime."

"Shut up!" The lion watched his master and friend for a moment. He wouldn't deny that he was relieved that she was mostly unhurt, there were one or two scratches here and there but, overall, it could have ended worse. On the other hand, though, the girl didn't seem as happy; something was bothering her greatly and he'd be damned if he didn't find out what.

"What's the matter, Luce?" The direct approach was still the best in the end, after all.

"It's nothing…not really."

"Stop beating around the bush, get what's bothering you out." It probably came out harsher than he had meant it to be –Lucy flinched slightly at his harshness- but if he didn't used this choice of word and tone he knew he'd been waiting half an eternity for Lucy to answer. Maybe that would have been better; he wasn't expecting the answer he got.

 

"I'm weak."

 

"Don't say such nonsense, you are not weak." The blonde-haired mage looked down at her lap where her clasped hands sat, her bangs hiding her face, partly, from her lion.

"Didn't you just see how I fought? I didn't even fight! I hid behind Aquarius, Virgo, Aries, and then you! If you hadn't shown up when you did…" Loke frowned at his friend's attitude as he interrupted her, being his, normally unusual, serious self as he started to speak.

"Stop it. Lucy. You are not weak. Yes, sure, against people like Natsu, Erza or Minerva you've still got a long way to go, but those are also the best of the best; there are hundreds of people that would seem weak against them, even if though they're not, and you're one of them. Remember what you've already achieved up to now. You beat Angel. You beat a mercenary guild on your own with just Taurus as your aid. You beat Sherry, whose magic mind you, is just made to counter yours. Lucy, you have already achieved so much. You saved my life -something I'll always be grateful to you for. You got the Spirit King to rethink his judgement. You got him to change his mind, for the love of the stars, you are the only Celestial Spirit mage who is friends with him! So tell me, is that something -is anything from what I just listed something a simple person, a weak person could do?" Loke waited for Lucy to answer after he finished his little rant. He was right, he knew it and Lucy knew it too. Everything he just said was true and Lucy found herself believing him wholeheartedly. Raising her head and pulling her eyes away from her hands, Lucy met Loke's serious gaze with a determined one of her own.

"I want to be stronger, even stronger than I am now. Strong enough to not seem weak against one of the others." The lion's mouth curled up into a smile.

"That's just what I wanted to hear and just what I needed to hear." The spirit-using mage looked at the zodiac leader with confused chocolate-coloured eyes.

 

"I finished talking with the other spirits and got everything cleared with the King, just before I came here." That only led to Lucy being even more confused. What did Loke have to talk about, with the other spirits and the King, concerning her? He wasn't still in trouble because of the Karen thing, was he?

"Stop looking so worried; you'll get wrinkles and you are way too young for that." A playful punch hit Loke's shoulder.

"Ouch. Girl, you hit hard... makes me rethink my plan of helping you to get to your goal." The lion rubbed his –so badly hurt- shoulder that Lucy just hit, with a look of faked pain.

"Eh, what plan? Tell me Loke!"

"I'll tell! I'll tell! Just stop hitting me", the orange-haired spirit laughed, holding up his hands to shield himself from his master's 'powerful' punches.

"Sheesh, sometimes I wonder just who could think of you as a nice girl. Don't you dare hit me again or I won't tell you!" Lucy let her fist –already in the position to hit Loke again- sink down, a big smile on her face, while waiting for Loke to start talking again. The orange-haired man sighed and pushed his glasses up, making them reflect the light and thus hiding his eyes.

 

"This 'hiding', as you call it, behind us can be led back to two main causes. First, your physical fighting abilities are close to zero; your handling of the whip is good but besides that you've got next to no fighting abilities, simply because you never learned how to really fight in hand-to-hand combat. Second, your magic, as powerful as it can be, is one nearly perfectly made for one to hide behind –which most do. Especially as the only spell you know besides summoning us is Urano Metria. So those are your two big disadvantages: the inability to fight in hand-to-hand combat and the lack of knowledge of other spells. Without those two things you have a hard time aiding others –your spirits, me, your team- in battle."

"Great, go and rub it in, will you?" Loke raised his hand, telling Lucy to be quiet before he wagged his finger in a scolding manner.

"Now, now, listen. Those two disadvantages can be easily overcome. How you ask? Simple: by training." A big grin spread over Loke's face and Lucy's face, too, lit up as she drew her conclusion about what Loke was hinting.

"That's the reason why I talked with the others and the king; so we can train you in combat and celestial magic that allows you to strengthen your spirit and aid your spirits." Big chocolate-brown eyes stared at the lion, wide open and chin nearly hitting the ground. She had imagined Loke telling her something like that, but still. It wasn't exactly something she expected; that her friends came up with an idea like that. While the blonde stared at Loke, unable to find her voice to say something, he played with the pillow still in his hands. Better give the human a moment to collect herself again, were his thoughts; it wasn't exactly the best idea to overrun her with the whole training-plan at once.

"Why did you have to talk with the Celestial Spirit King about it?" Just great, the first thing she did, after finding her voice again, was question him. No 'thank you' or 'you're the best' or whatever; the only thing she got out was to question him. Loke, though, didn't seem to mind being questioned; at least, he didn't seemed offended by it. Actually, her perhaps wasn't as old as Capricorn and hadn't as much experience teaching - for a celestial spirit Loke was actually quite young - but he still liked to share his knowledge with others, thus he was actually happy to fill his intelligent master's knowledge gap.

"It's because of what happened the last time a mage learned the spells and studied with his spirits…he isn't exactly…well, he isn't exactly the most loved mage –I can't tell you more about that, you know the rules. Because of that person's history, and the connection he once held to us, a law was created centuries ago that forbade us to teach our masters any of the celestial magic. The only thing we're still allowed to do, in the end, is pretty much to form contracts with them and lend them our power. I had to talk with the King to make an exception so we would be allowed to teach you."

 

"You idiot!" A low thump was heard and the lion lay on the floor blinking up to the ceiling; Lucy had pushed him off the bed. "What would you do if someone saw that as breaking the rules again? What if the Celestial Spirit King saw it as breaking the rules?"

"Well, then I think I would have to teach you without him or anyone else knowing."

"Loke!" Loke chuckled as he pulled himself up to his feet again and reached out to pat Lucy's head.

"Don't worry, hime. I'm pretty safe as long as I don't kill you." The blonde pouted but couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that her Lion wouldn't have to face punishment so fast again.

"And now get rid of those ugly wrinkles, I tell you! You always get them when you worry about something. I'll go and tell the others you're up now, they will surely want to check on you too."

"You'll come again later?"

Loke shook his head his head softly. "No, not later. I've got something I wanna check but I'll be here first thing tomorrow. So don't worry, hime, you won't be too long without your handsome prince, your knight in shining armour, your-"

"I got it Loke, I got it. So tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow I'll be back, hime, rest well." Placing a small kiss on Lucy's forehead he bid her farewell and left the room.

 

Finding all the other Fairy Tail members wasn't too hard; a blind man could easily spot them in a sea of people. The fact that they were at their hotel was helping too. And after telling them that Lucy was up, he chuckled, looking at the dust cloud they left on their way to where the blonde was. How lucky he didn't stand between the door and the mages; he'd be a pancake, Though, it did make him happy that the Guild cared so much for each other, after all, he too was still a member of Fairy Tail, and it made him happy to be in such a Guild. They were like a big family, and Makarov was like their father or grandfather... maybe that was why he had first been a bit doubtful of Fairy Tail, because his and his father's relationship... Loke shook his head shortly and focused on what he wanted again.

 

Territory. What a powerful magic. Loke, though, wondered how the black-haired mage learnt it, even the incomplete scribbles of the Yakama-clan were close to non-existent today, though still too many for letting Territory count as a lost magic. Of course, he had knowledge of that magic and may others, thanks to having spent half his childhood within the royal library learning about everything that was worth knowing. He had needed a wide knowledge for when his father stepped back and he would take over his place as the Lion summon, well he was at least forced to learn it. Again, the orange-haired spirit shook his head; now wasn't the best time to think about his childhood or what he knew about Territory, even if the caster magic had to do with what he wanted to check.

Using his own magic to transform his black suit into the green hooded-jacket outfit he wore during his time as a human, the lion left the building and walked down the streets; there was an easy way to find out what he wanted.

 

-Line Break-

 

A crash echoed through the room and a vase fractured into pieces. She was angry, no she was beyond angry; she was pissed to a degree that was rare for her, even with these annoying nitwits in her guild.

Another crash, a mirror and a chair crumpled to shreds, the stool having been thrown against the reflective surface; it shouldn't have reflected her shame. The shame of having lost, no matter what the points or anyone else said, she had lost. After all everything that wasn't winning was losing and a tie was no better than losing. Actually, it was a whole lot worse. A tie meant that the enemy took pity in you, didn't take you for a threat, that they were holding back, that-…'I'm weak here', the overgrown kitten's words as he explained to that stupid fairy why he wouldn't be able to take her –Sabertooth's strongest- out, wouldn't be able to kick her out of the sphere echoed in her head. In his weakened state the kitten managed to keep up with her…what would be if he wasn't weakened? If they fought somewhere where the environment didn't affect their magic? Would she lose? Would he take pity on her and not finish it?

 

Minerva bit her bottom lip -a bad habit that she had whenever something was troubling her, deep in thought chewing on the red flesh. It really was an unexpected situation; she hadn't expected the spirit to interfere –hadn't expected any of the blonde's spirits to interfere- or that either of those little sparkly pawns were on par with her.

 

She lost.

She didn't needed her father to tell her that, to tell her that she was a failure and a disgrace to the Guild, the Guild he brought to the top.

The black-haired woman let herself fall backwards onto her bed. The mattress was a bit too hard for her liking, but this was Sabertooth; comfort didn't exist here, wasn't accepted nor wanted here.

She couldn't forget what the kitten had said about her magic. He recognized it fast, most needed a lot longer and for her to use it in a more obvious way for them to figure out her magic, and even then they only knew how it worked and not what it was. Also, he said it wasn't at its full potential, that she still couldn't use her magic's full power.

With a sigh, the black-haired mage closed her eyes, wanting to drift into sleep, to dream about the time she was a child and could dream about someone who cared for her.

Not a minute passed before she ripped her eyes open again and sat up straight in her bed. To say what the kitten had said about her magic, he had to have more knowledge about it, he had to know something she didn't.

Minerva's lips curled into an evil smirk.

 

The kitten's love and weakness for women and for flirting were no secret to her, to no one, actually, who read a bit about him –and she did as she collected information about other guilds, Fairy Tail was one of them- and she would get information from him, one way or another.

Pushing herself up from her bed a dark chuckle escaped her. Her plan stood and would not fail; she knew how to play and to manipulate.

The question was, did the kitten?

He, after all, was no more of a flirt? and wouldn't notice how she played him, wouldn't notice until she crushed Fairy Tail with unwilling, unknowing aid.

_Within the darkness a little girl cried, fearing for what was to come. Why wouldn't someone come and save her?_

 

-Line Break-

 

Lucy chuckled as she watched Natsu telling her a story, making wild gestures with his hands as he described just how he defeated the rough? mage on one of his solo missions with Happy before she joined the Guild. He wanted to make her feel happy because she had to stay put here over night -an order from Porlyusica- so she'd be fit again tomorrow.

The rest had already left to give her some space and peace to rest. The Master shortly told them what would happen now with Raven Tail disqualified. Originally, it was planned to have Fairy Tail put both their teams together, now though, for whatever reason, it was decided that Fairy Tail could keep their two teams in the game but the last place had been removed. In other words, no team could get the official last place at last in the stats. So, now there were only seven teams left.

Shortly, Lucy wondered what Loke had to do; he wouldn't have anything to do with the changing in the teams but she couldn't help but wonder where he went. Though, thinking more about it, she was quite sure he was at some bar having a girl in both his arms or more. Well, she knew him and his womanizing tendency but when she really needed him he would always come and help her, like now where he would go and train her.

 

"Oi, Lucy, are you listening?"

"Sorry Natsu, I was just thinking about what Loke told me about how he and the others would train me."

"Oh…" Natsu gave Lucy a big, wide grin, "no need to worry. Your spirits are your friends, aren't they? It's great, you'll be able to learn really cool spirit moves! Like going through walls or being invisible or…" Lucy smiled as Natsu rambled on and on about what cool moves she could learn, even if Lucy was sure that her salmon-haired friend confused her celestial spirits with ghosts at some point.

 

 

Outside of the window, in the dark night sky, the stars twinkled and shined brightly in the darkness. Especially the stars that belonged to the sign of the water bearer, which shined brighter than usual before dimming back to their normal brightness.

In the celestial spirit world, the blue-haired water spirit smiled. In front of her was a flat bowl filled with water, the surface of which showed the image of a blonde sitting on her bed in front of the window, laughing, while next to her sat the fire dragon slayer making wild gestures while saying something with a big grin.

Touching the surface of the water in the bowl, the picture started to ripple and disappeared into the water again, leaving only the crystal-clear water behind, so now one could see the drawing of the water bearer's sign on the bottom of the bowl again. It was good that the blonde was alright again.

As she heard about how the blonde was too stubborn to give up and about what kind opponent was there with her, the water spirit was worried, but she noticed too late and wasn't able to force open her own gate. It was lucky Leo reacted, and after he returned came to her right away. The little talk she had with the Lion –more like the scowling she got from him- didn't helped her worries about her Master at first, not that she would ever admit being worried to the blonde Master of hers, though he also told her that she was safe now. It didn't lessen his scowling, though. Leo was only a few years older, for celestial spirits this was not even really worth mentioning because of how old they could become –staying eternally in the spirit world, they could live forever but most decided after some centuries or millenniums that they had lived long enough and left the spirit world to roam Earthland for their last few days as they couldn't live much longer down there- but in situations like this Leo loved to rub it in.

 

Though, remembering Leo reminded her that the lion asked her to look something up in the royal library for him, as she was, next to him, one of the few allowed to look into everything there –even classified things.

"Lady Aquarius," Capricorn had just entered the room and was now standing at the door, "your father request your presence." The blue-haired woman just brushed the older spirit off.

"Later, I'm busy now; he can wait." And with that, the mermaid spirit passed the goat.

 

-Line Break-

 

Minerva growled silently; that was the fourth bar she had searched in for that stupid kitten, but no luck so far. Maybe her plan wasn't really all that thought through. How high was the likelihood that she would find the kitten here anywhere? He'll probably be at the blonde fly's side, holding her hand or licking his wounds wherever he is when not summoned.

"Damn." The territory mage let loose some swear words under her breath and rubbed her arms with her hands, trying to warm herself up a bit. It was cold! Maybe she should have thought this through a bit better; she could have at least brought a coat. If he wasn't in the next one, she'd go back and think of a better plan.

Pushing the door open, Minerva was greeted with warm air filled with useless talking and laughing.

 

"Good evening ma'am. How can I help you? A table for one person, or are you expecting someone, or maybe a stool at the bar?" The black-haired woman ignored the friendly, smiling man dressed in a uniform showing that he worked there. Brushing past him, Minerva marched directly towards the round table in a booth; a horseshoe-shaped red cloth cladded sofa that was embedded in the niche and a table that stood so you could reach it comfortably from all sides. There, in the middle of the bench, directly in front of her, and with a girl at each arm –a brunette and a red-head- sat the orange-haired spirit laughing at something the brunette had said.

'Bimbo' was the first word shooting through Minerva's head as she saw the two giggling and flirting females, who were clearly under-dressed, in their short dresses, for the weather outside. The women, too, noticed Minerva... or rather, they noticed the glare she sent them and both shrunk under it. On the other hand, the male smirked up at the territory mage and pulled his arms away from the two girls next to him -until now he'd had them around their shoulders.

"Ladies, please excuse me, but you have to leave." The two girls nodded and hurried away, not without both kissing the orange-haired spirit goodbye on his cheek, leaving the lion and the Sabertooth queen behind.

 

"Please, Minerva, sit down, have a drink. You look quite cold, you want me to warm you up?" Minerva's glare directed at Loke hardened before she remembered her plan. She tried to smile as sweetly as she could and sat down beside Loke but couldn't bring herself to snuggle up to him like those two girls before her did, even if it could help her reach her goal. The zodiac leader meanwhile went and winked a waitress over, ordering something to drink.

"So, now," Loke started as they waited for their drinks, and touching a Lacrima that flared up shortly, "pray tell me what you are doing here, and where is your coat? It's cold outside."

"I forgot it." The nearly-inaudible, bashful mumbling of Minerva made Loke smile softly and place his own jacket, after he took it off, around her.

"Here, maybe it's warm inside, but still…"

"I don't need charity!"

"So…you're hinting that you're poor?" Minerva glared at the male. That arrogant kitten.

"I kid, I kid. And it has nothing to do with charity or pity; I merely worried that you would catch a cold when you go outside again." For a short moment, just a mere second, Minerva looked at the lion with gratefulness, for just a moment the lion seemed to look so honest.

"I'm actually quite surprised that you forgot something like a coat, seems like even you forget small things like that."

"What makes you say that?"

"I asked around a bit. People think that you belong to the type of people that never forget something and are as scary as hell. They also believe you'd do everything to reach your goal." Minerva frowned, inwardly. Why did the kitten go and ask around about her? He didn't have a real reason, though maybe…

 

Minerva gave Loke a harsh glare. "You really are a womanizer, aren't you?" Loke chuckled as he leant back and crossed his arms behind his head.

With a thoughtful expression, he looked up at the ceiling. "Not really, I like women, I admit that, but actually I'm still waiting for the right one."

"And how many have you dished that lie out to up to now? How many told you that they were the right one?"

"To tell the truth, none. Telling someone they are the right one and not fully meaning it is not only a bold lie, it's dishonourable, mean, and one of the worse things you can do to someone -that's my opinion, at least."

 

The Territory mage blinked at the lion. She expected another answer after what she knew about him. Okay, maybe it wasn't that much as she only knew what had been written in magazines, but she did have a picture of him in mind, that now seemed unfitting and it frustrated her. She prided herself with the fact that, by now, she was as strong as her father and just as able to lead the Guild, even being able to understand others' feelings and emotional ties; something her father could not do and she also was quite proud to say that she had more brains then him, and that she used that to manipulate others. Now, with her picture of the kitten not fitting as well anymore, it'd be more difficult to manipulate him. To manipulate one, you needed to understand how they tick.

Oh well, her original plan probably wouldn't work anymore, but she still had an ace up her sleeve. The wonderful bonds of friendship that that stupid Fairy Guild value so much, not as elegant to use but oh well.

"You seem surprised about that, expected something different?"

"Stop acting as if you know me." Loke chuckled but decided against answering, for now anyway.

The drinks came and Loke paid the waitress before placing one of the glasses in front of Minerva.

"Is that how you get all the girls, by making them drunk? You're trying to make me drunk?"

"Nonsense, the girls like me because I'm handsome, charming and know how to use words, that's why they throw themselves at me. Moreover, these are non-alcoholic drinks. I once had a drinking contest with Cana, not my best memory." Minerva raised an eyebrow, the kitten's ego wasn't small was it? Still, she took the glass and tasted a small sip of it. It tasted surprisingly good and reminded her of something... but what she couldn't remember; it tasted like something she had drunk once before already.

"Still love it, don't you?" The glass nearly slipped out of Minerva's hand and she lost control over her expressions as she stared wide-eyed at the spirit.

"What. Do. You. Know?!"

 

"Just what people say, you know? That you're a powerful mage, that it's thanks to you that Sabertooth got so strong so fast, the others in your team are given credit too, you're said to be pretty intelligent too and to say it more gallantly, gorgeous. Those two lovely ladies from earlier were fans of you, by the way -you didn't have to scare them away like that."

"I did not scare them, if they're such whiney babies that get scared of everything, they should have just stayed in the hole they crawled out from." Loke merely raised an eyebrow, though he was a bit put off by how Minerva was acting, talking about others, and treating others. Keeping his hazel eyes on the green-eyed mage, Loke took a sip of his own drink. It was a different one than Minerva's. One could already tell them apart by colour- Minerva's red-filled from bottom to top with crushed ice and his golden with ice cubs swimming on top of it- but he preferred his over the sweet-bitterness of the black-haired mage's drink. First sweet than bitter. Was it perhaps reflecting her personality? The lion could remember someone once telling him that people often liked things they saw themselves in, nearly a century ago. Actually, he could still remember his mother once telling someone their character just by seeing their most precious possession. Ah yeah, it was his mother who told him that, but she had said more about it, what was it again?

'Don't go around believing what you see in something is what others see in it too. A wild beast is, for some, nothing more than a mindless beast, for others it is just a misunderstood being' Yeah, that was it. So, in the end, it didn't matter knowing what a person liked without knowing what they saw in it.

 

Minerva, meanwhile, was also in deep thoughts, but, unlike Loke, not in thoughts about the past but of the near future, or rather; about what she should do now. She didn't plan for this conversation to go like this, actually she hadn't really thought it through much. Not like she usually did where, before she started a plan, she already had everything thought through -to the smallest detail. She had wanted to use charms and charisma to wrap him around her little finger, perfect for her to destroy that weak little fairy Guild. Now though, she had to improvise.

"Uhm…your name is Loki, isn't it?" The zodiac leader stared at the female as if she just asked the most ridiculous thing ever.

"We fought just this midday, you came here, interrupting my time with those lovely ladies, I invited you for a drink, we talked and you're asking for my name just now?"

Oh, so that's why he looked so ridiculous just now. "Well, I-"

The many expressions someone from Fairy Tail could make based on their emotions were impressive. Just a moment ago he had that ridiculous face, before that, as he was in his own thoughts, something quite different passed his face just staying for a short moment and now he was laughing.

"Don't worry about it, I didn't ask for your name either, did I? It's actually Leo, but most here call me Loke. By the way, that's with an 'e' not an 'i', just for the record." And now that flirty grin was paired with a wink.

"And my name is Minerva, just for the record." She wasn't sure why, but somehow she adopted his flirty tone and, guessing from how his grin widened, it was right but…why was she comfortable with how it was at the moment? She couldn't forget why she actually came here -she had to remind herself of it.

"Minerva, huh? Nice meeting you, though I wonder," the grin disappeared and Loke turned serious, "what it is that you want of me in the middle of the night; it's already ten p.m." How can he turn serious from flirting and grinning so fast?

"I merely wanted to get to know you." Hazel eyes locked with her green ones and Minerva knew that she had lost the control over this conversation, no -she never had it to begin with.

"Getting to know me, huh?" She really hadn't any control of it, was what went through her head as the lion leaned forward, his breath tickling her ear. Did she really think she could use the charming and flirting technique with him? He was more experienced, and probably a lot older too. He would notice when she would feign interest in him, she should have thought about that. There was no backing down anymore; if she gave in now she would lose, she would be weak and she learnt from the beginning that being weak was not an option.

"Yes, you were able to keep up with me, while saying that you were weakened from the water. Of course I would take an interest in you, kitty." If the nice way didn't work, she could just as well take a more offensive approach. Loke, still leanimg forward close to Minerva's ear, was supporting himself with his arm on the backrest, stopping himself from falling onto her.

"Sure that's the only way you want to get to know me?" The soft drawl of his voice paralyzed Minerva for a moment; what was he aiming at? And before she could slap him the orange-haired man had already leaned back.

"What did you just do?"

 

"You mean the trying to flirt with you part?"

"I mean-shut up! For what did you activated the Lacrima earlier?"

"Oh, and here I was hoping I finally got through your defences…oh well, took you some time to ask about the Lacrima, good way to change the topic. It seems like you'll be a bit of a challenge, don't you think so too Minerva?"

"I think it's rude to not answer a question."

"But lying is okay? Don't look so surprised; it was painfully obvious that you were lying nearly the whole time you've been here. The Lacrima only gave us privacy; it's got a silencing spell on it that stops others from hearing our conversations, one more reason why I like this place." Minerva glared at the lion, she didn't see a reason to try and act anymore, not with the kitten having seen through it already. With a sneer on her face and also in her voice she started to talk.

"I would say congratulations kitty –what, don't like being called that?- not many notice when I lie, you're one of the unlucky few." Loke took another sip from his drink, keeping a close eye on Minerva. He was aware that he was playing a dangerous game, the black-haired mage was fuming on the inside –he was also aware of that- but there was something he needed to know and this girl –yes girl, she maybe had the body of a woman, acting all high and mighty, but she was still a scared little child that tried to act like a woman, tried to act strong- this girl was the only one he was sure had the answer.

"But when you say it's rude to not answer a question, answer me again, this time without lying. What do you want from me?"

"What do you know about my magic, where do you know it from, tell me."

"You know, most people would ask and not command, and use please. You know, just to not be rude." Minerva glared. The nerve of the kitty. He acted as if they were old friends, as if he knew anything about her, as if he had a right to. He even dared to use her own words against her.

"Please and other nonsense does not concern me, my only concern is to gain whatever knowledge you have on my magic and from where you got it."

"And what if I'm not willing to share my knowledge?"

"You will."

 

Loke raised an amused eyebrow as he took another sip of his drink. "Oh? What makes you so sure?"

Minerva smirked; he clearly had the same weakness like all the Fairy Tail wanna-be mages, the weakness that made their hot-blooded Dragon Slayer challenge her father. Not an actual weakness, after all, they could awaken great strength through it, but someone who wanted to harm them could use it against them.

"You know, I fear, kitten, that you won't always be able to come to the blonde's aid."

 

Crack. Minerva flinched as the glass in the kitten's hand shattered into pieces and she was met by the murderous glare of the Lion. The hazel eyes burned with such a fury. For the first time since meeting today, Minerva became aware of just why he was the leader of the zodiacs, the lion –thanks to Yukino telling Sting everything she knew about Celestial Spirits, she was aware of which position he held. He was a lion, a wild beast and he was just as protective of his family as a real lion. Never anger a lion, never threaten what he cared for, Minerva was sure she would remember that forever.

 

"Listen and listen good." It was no more than a low growl through clenched teeth but every word was clearly understandable for Minerva.

"Do not, not for one second, believe that you'll ever have the chance of hurting Lucy, because that will never happen." Did he always have fangs?

"I won't stand by, letting you hurt her, and believe me when I tell you that Fairy Tail and I are some of the few you do not want to piss off." His mane was wilder than usual, like an animal's fur when it prepared itself to attack.

"I'm warning you, don't mess with Fairy Tail, don't mess with people I care for."

"Is that a threat?" Minerva wasn't known for backing down and she wouldn't anytime soon, even if she was face to face with a wild beast –that was what he was at that moment, a wild, murderous beast.

"That is but a warning, take it or leave it."

"I believe whatever bimbo of yours you asked about me wasn't quite correct." The two were now face to face, glaring at each other, noses nearly touching, neither wanting to back down.

"Intelligent, beautiful and doing everything to get what you want, but also scary as hell, that's basically what everyone I asked told me about you."

"See, you have yet to ask about me, you don't actually know me" –

"Not anymore." It was quiet, barely more than a voiceless whisper, and the green eyed mage wasn't sure if she would have heard it hadn't they been that close –their foreheads nearly pressed together- to each other, and was that some kind of regret she heard in his voice?

Loke sighed and pulled away, he was still clearly pissed but it seemed as if he got some control over his actions back, not being ruled by his anger anymore as he stood up and deactivated the Lacrima.

"You'd better remember my warning."

Minerva glared up at the orange-haired lion. How dare he; he had no right -he was a mere puppet! How dare he believe he could give her any kind of advice! Minerva opened her mouth to give the kitten a piece of her mind. Loke on the other hand only gave another sigh and ran his hand through his wild mane.

"Just…grow up, will ya?" With that said, the lion turned and left Minerva sitting there alone with her nearly untouched glass and his jacket around her.

 

-Line Break-

 

**After the Navel Battle, one would have expected you to be down. I still remember, but as we came to you, you were happy. Yes, you hadn't won and, in your words, 'hid' behind your spirits in that fight, but you believed that it could only get better, that with the help of your spirits you could become stronger. We were all so happy for you, I still remember that clearly. We wanted to celebrate with you the second you were allowed out of the bed and the Grand Magic Games were over, no matter if we won or not. We never got so far, did we? Right after the games were over…It happened, and the darkness and destruction took over…No one imagined something like that could happened as we spent our last happy hours together, before everything changed.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my Beta Rainiebug (Fanfiction.net name)


	3. Chapter 3

The rays of the morning sun shined softly through the window of Fairy Tail's hospital room. On one side of the room was Elfman, who was bandaged from head to toe, sleeping soundly in his bed along with Evergreen, who had fallen asleep next to him, slumped over so her head rested on the bed too. On the other side of the room, fast asleep in her bed, was Lucy. None of the three let the warm morning sun bother them in their sleep; it was just too comfy in their beds, or, in Evergreen's case, she was too tired to let it bother her. But the peaceful sleep didn't last long, at least for Lucy. Turning over in her sleep, the blonde smiled and snuggled up to her pillow, not knowing how soon her peaceful slumber would be interrupted, by none other than her trusted lion.

 

A soft golden glow appeared next to the spirit mage, forming a human shape before disappearing, leaving the orange-haired lion behind. The black-suited lion smiled as he looked down at his master. How peacefully she slumbered, as if there wasn't an evil thing in the world, as if there wasn't a single worry in it. What sick and evil-minded being would dare to disrupt such a peaceful and beautiful slumber?

A devilish grin made its way on the lion's face; he would.

"Oh, Hime~" With a sing-song voice and a big jolly grin on his face, the orange-haired spirit leaned forward and blew softly in Lucy's ear. Lucy frowned slightly in her sleep as the soft stream of air tickled her ear.

"Hime, time to wake up~ Rise and shine~" the lion chuckled as his sleeping master tried to push him away from her with one hand, failing at it and only barely brushing his cheek – and somehow still managing to half knock Loke's glasses off his face! She really was a stubborn one; set on not waking up. She was a deep sleeper from time to time, making one wonder what she dreamed of to be so deeply asleep.

First attempt to wake her up failed - if she wasn't too deep down in her slumber she usually woke up when someone blew against her ear; she was ticklish - well... looks like it's time for plan two. With a swift movement the zodiac leader was on top of his master, grinning down at her with an expression worthy of a devil. Mission Wake-Up-Lucy, Plan B: Sleeping Beauty.

"Hime, your knight in shining armour, your prince charming is here to awaken you from your slumber with a true love's kiss." Lucy groaned as she started to wake up slowly. First there was some annoying breeze tickling her ear, now there was something heavy on top of her. Drowsy eyes cracked open. The blonde's half-asleep mind needed a moment to register that Loke was on top of her and leaning down towards her face.

 

With a yelp, Lucy pushed her spirit away from her and off the bed, making Loke tumble backwards onto the floor and hit the back of his head painfully on the floor as his lips reached their destination.

"Ouch! Was that really necessary?" Loke groaned. Lucy glared at the flirtatious lion, and her glare deepened as he dared to even ask that question.

"You kissed me while I was asleep!"

"You didn't want to wake up."

"You kissed me!"

"It was only a small peck-"

"You kissed me without asking me first!"

Loke looked at his master with a deadpan expression before responding with a just-as-deadpan tone: "You really believe I would ask any girl before I gave them a small peck?"

 

Groaning from the other side of the room made the two, spirit and master, turn towards the other two people in the room and source of the noise. Evergreen and Elfman had been woken up by the noise the mage and spirit made.

"Making noise like that is not manly!" Normally, Lucy would smile at Elfman's 'manly' speech, now though…

"He kissed me! In my sleep!"

"Kissing someone is ma-" the second oldest of the Take-Over siblings couldn't continue that statement as Evergreen hit him.

"Shut up, you big dork! It's not manly! Kissing someone against their will is horrible," Evergreen declared. Loke sighed. This really was getting out of hand. Better to stop it now before Evergreen decided to use her Stone Eyes and turn him into a stone statue. Wait, did her Stone Eyes work on spirits like him too?

"It was only a peck –on the forehead!" The beast Take-Over mage and the Stone Eyes user blinked at the flushed celestial spirit mage and the flirty lion.

"On the forehead... that's not manly, man."

"These theatrics because of a peck, and one merely on the forehead?"

"W-well, how would you react when you wake up and find him on top of you, leaning down and then kissing you?" tried the flushed Lucy to defend herself, tried being the operative word here. Evergreen only shook her head; for this pointless fuss she was woke up! But she, too, would have had a similar reaction if it was a flirt like that lion was. Meanwhile, Elfman mumbled something about 'not manly'.

 

"Well fun aside, hime, it's time to get up and ready for training. I'll be waiting outside. You've got ten minutes before I come and get you. Best you wear something comfy and no heels. Oh, and skirts wouldn't be a good idea in the beginning." Lucy nodded that she understood and Loke left the room, bidding his farewell to Evergreen and Elfman.

 

 

Nine minutes later, Lucy left the hospital room dressed in shorts, a top and heelless boots -not her most fashionable outfit- and ready for training. The lion was waiting in the hallway, leaning against the opposite wall from the door, with his arms crossed. He smirked as he saw his master and raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wonder what your definition of wearing something comfortable is. Not that I don't appreciate it, just, you know, in a fight you'll end up with clothing damage and there won't be much to damage with that outfit." Lucy glared at her spirit; he was the last one she wanted to hear criticize her choice of clothes as too revealing.

"I don't want to criticize you, hime."

"But that's what you're doing right now!" Loke sighed and ran his hand through his mane –that was starting to become a habit.

"Look, hime. We both know that you can be quite…daring when you want something and you're willing to use your... feminine wiles to get it. At the same time you dislike it when someone views you as a kind of slut just because you're okay with your body and aren't afraid to use it to your advantage. That said, we both know you aren't too fond of showing more than you usually do. And, like I said, in combat, clothes are the first thing to take damage and if you don't want to show more, think a bit about it, 'kay? Moreover...you're absolutely not comfortable wearing that at least not in that combination." Lucy nodded gently. Loke did know her inside out, when did that actually happened?

 

Somewhere in-between Edolas and Tenrou, already after their fight with Brixlow, though especially after her father's death. The lion was quite stubborn and was the one to look after her; she could get the others to leave her alone to grieve. Not the lion though. He was simply there most of the time, mostly just in the kitchen, cleaning something or making food. When he wasn't, he simply sat at the table, as silent as possible the whole time. He wasn't in direct view and didn't tried to make her talk –something she was grateful for- but he was there the whole time, always within her reach, willing to listen to her. When the others came, he mostly hadn't let them notice him. They were there for her and not him, he said. Lucy admitted it -it was a good thing he didn't listen when she told him she wanted to be alone, and instead stuck around in her apartment; if he hadn't then she would have felt so alone. Yes, she knew the others would be there the second she called –the only reason why she got them to leave was that she used all kinds of threats on them. For example, she would threaten Erza with the promise of never getting a strawberry cake again.

"What's on your mind, hime?" Lucy shook her head, before smiling brightly at the lion.

"Nothing, just thinking about how well you know me."

"What kind of prince charming would I be if I didn't?"

"Oh shut up." Loke just grinned as he pushed himself away from the wall and started walking down the hallway, telling Lucy to follow him.

"I think Virgo can bring you some clothes later. Celestial clothes can withstand more and take less damage than Earthland clothes."

 

-{~"~}-

 

An unusual hectic atmosphere was within the Sabertooth Guild this morning; the former Guild Master having been replaced by Sting, after the latter nearly killed the old master. It was a bit of surprise, even for the daughter of the former master, but she was fast and used it to her advantage. She was able to understand the ties of friendship, after all, and was able to pull them according to her plan. Now, she held Sting's exceed hostage, thus having control for the rest of the games.

 

Okay, so maybe she didn't like to take hostages, but she wanted to win and was willing to do anything for that. Even blackmailing someone she viewed as a friend -as far as she allowed herself such an emotional tie.

The day before this hectic morning, as Minerva returned after her -admittedly confusing- talk with the oversized kitten, her father had called everyone in for a meeting.

The reason for this meeting was Rouge's and Sting's poor performance against the two Dragon Slayers of both of the Fairy Tail teams. There had been an uneven number of teams, so for that round two teams had to fight together as one and the decision fell onto the two Fairy Tail teams.

In that meeting her father had tried to kill Lector –she reacted fast enough to safe the red cat- which led to Sting attacking Jimma, and after that –with a bit help from her- him becoming the new Guild master.

Of course she had saved the cat; he was useful to blackmail the light Dragon Slayer with and to make him stronger.

Minerva smirked.

Sabertooth would win the Grand Magic Games; they were the strongest undoubtedly.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"I have a bad feeling about today." The two women nodded, agreeing with their blue-haired teammate. There was something not quite right with the reason behind these games, and now there was a person running around with a similar aura to Zeref. It was even more surprising who that person was. As Jellal reached that person and she showed him her face…

Crime Society couldn't say they weren't surprised. Now, though, there were new questions. Questions that needed answers.

How could that person be here and how come her aura was like Zeref's?

Ultear looked at her crystal ball.

Yes, the blue haired one was right, something would happen today... something bad.

 

-{~"~}-

 

The spirit of Fairy Tail's first master sat, deep in her own thoughts, on top of a roof looking over the city. Today was the last round of the games and she would make sure to give her best to bring her Guild to victory.

But something was nagging at the back of her mind. She thought she had felt her old teacher's aura nearby, but she was sure somehow that it couldn't be. He wouldn't come to a place filled with so many people, not at the risk of being unable to control his magic. He wouldn't risk it as long as he cared.

 

But what if he stopped caring?

 

Mavis shook her head. No, for now that was not on top of her Priority list; for now, winning the games was more important. She trusted her belief in her old master that he wouldn't come to a place filled with humans without a good reason and she believed that he hadn't stopped caring for life already.

Standing up, the long haired ghost jumped down onto the street. Time to see the third's/sixth's battle plan. Grinning Mavis ran, or rather jumped, from foot to foot, to her Guild.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"Princess, the Eclipse plan is ready whenever you are. You only have to open the gate." Hisui nodded as the knight finished his report.

"Good, then we only need the Golden Keys to open it."

"Yes princess. Two of them are with Miss Yukino, the other ten with Miss Lucy Heartfilia, who's taking part in the Grand Magic Games."

"I know, and I believe it's agreeable to wait until the last round is over to get those. If we did it now and somehow hindered the girl from taking part in the last round the audience would be let down."

"Then, after the games are over, I'll directly get the Heartfilia girl." Hisui just nodded again, before excusing herself and leaving the knight behind.

 

Now all alone as she walked through the halls, she started to worry again for the safety of her kingdom. She would do anything just to make sure it was safe and its people could live in peace. And for that, she had to finish the Eclipse plan; it was her only choice when she wanted to protect her kingdom. Her friend told her all about it. Sure, she still didn't believe him fully, so she had planned to wait until after the games were over and to see if what her friend told her would happen in the last round was true.

If it wasn't she wouldn't use the Eclipse plan, and if it what he said was true then she would, not that she would have much of a choice.

So, she, too, awaited the last round to begin this midday.

 

-{~"~}-

 

He could feel it. The time was slowly but surely coming. He sighed. How many eras did he see coming to an end? It always was the same in the end. The black-haired man sighed again and opened his eyes, looking through the trees' leaves and branches into the clear blue sky.

 

It was the one thing that always stayed the same ever since he could remember. Night and day always be the same. It was one thing he was sure of. Always there, looking down on the land, watching it change and burn, but always staying the same and separating the world of the stars from these lands. And now, it would once again witness an era's end. Not today, not tomorrow but soon. He could feel it, since that day seven years ago. Since the black dragon came to Tenrou Island.

That black-winged monster, once human, that destroyed his life so long ago.

"Natsu, become stronger." The dark mage stood up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. Yes, his hope to finally leave this nightmare that his life had become centuries ago, his hope was without a doubt Natsu, was E.N.D.

It was coming, this era's end. He could feel it and this time, hopefully, he too would end with this era, so he finally could be…

"Kova."

 

-{~"~}-

 

"By the way, Natsu told me that we tied in the Navel Battle, and teams A and B won the round after it. Our teams had been put together for that round, others sent in two from each team and we sent just one from each team that had to fight together."

"That's good I take it? Didn't know that there was a possibility for a tie."

"Me neither. I was under the impression that after one got out of the sphere after the time was up get second place. Guess you impressed them so much they decided to make it a tie."

"Either way, it's good for us, isn't it? We got more points."

Loke stopped walking, making Lucy nearly bump into him.

"I think, here's a good place for training." They both stood in an open area surrounded by some trees and far enough away from any buildings so as to not destroy or damage them –Lucy doubted she could damage them any time soon- and still close enough so others could easily find them if they wanted to.

 

"So what are we going to start with?"

"First, hime, I've got one question to clarify something. There's another round later, isn't there?"

"Yeah, the last one, though I don't know who's going to fight." Loke nodded while being in his own thoughts.

"A wild guess would be everyone, simply so everyone can show what they've got one last time. Unfortunately, I don't know a way to drill everything, no matter how small it is, into you in just a few hours. Hibiki and his archive magic could be helpful now. It could take care of the theoretical and give the needed information directly to your brain, which for the start wouldn't be too bad. It wouldn't be right to ask him though. While you're friends and all, to ask him to do something that would reduce his own Guild's chance. I also fear I wouldn't be able to get it allowed for him, at least not from the books in the royal Library… So we'll have to do this the traditional way, this way we also get your body to remember it on instinct right away, instead of you always having to use your brain first." Lucy stared at her orange-haired friend, who, in return, raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'what'.

"Nothing, just a bit hard to believe you can be serious like this. Normally you chase whatever's got more than one X chromosome and wears a skirt."

"What guy doesn't like being in the company of beautiful women? And, moreover, I am very cable of being serious – don't make that face, you know it's true – I just don't like it, never did, never will." Lucy opened her mouth to question him further but got interrupted by her spirit.

"Let's start training, shall we?" A curt nod was all Lucy needed to give as answer for the spirit to continue.

"Usually we would start differently, but we're under a bit of time pressure here, and it's close to impossible to get you on the same level as the others before the next round starts…But we won't let that dampen our mood. It shouldn't stop us after all. We simply, like already said, start a bit differently."

"How are we starting differently?" Lucy asked. Loke crossed his arms over his chest and gave Lucy a thoughtful look.

"Usually we would start with focusing on the basics to build up your muscle mass before we go for the more advanced techniques and using spells effectively in combat. We don't really have time to drill all the basics into you, so it's best if we go for the defensive for now, a good defense always stands you in good stead in battle.  
Also, as we can't build up enough muscle mass in that short amount of time, most offensive hand-to-hand combat would be simply useless as the others could overpower you easily, and the fact that you don't have enough experience for a direct fight with most of the fighters here would make it a total waste of time if we focus too much on offensive.  
Next to defense we'll try and get a few minor spells into your head, so you can aid us and confuse your opponent with them…Scorpio, Aquarius and Aries' spells would be the most useful for the start of the fight…if we have time I'll also try to teach you a basic light spell to blind your opponent.  
Also, we should use the time we have to think of a few tricks you can use in combat…for that we should consult Capricorn, but for now," Loke clapped his hands in a fashion to tell Lucy to get ready and a smirk that seemed as if Loke was having too much fun with this, "just do as I tell you to."

And so Lucy's first training session under Loke and her other Spirits begun.

 

Three hours later and Lucy lay on her back on the grass, breathing heavily. That lion could be a real slave driver. She wasn't even sure if it would have been worse if she had let herself get beaten up by Minerva...

Capricorn and Loke stood a few meters away. Both looking satisfied, in the lion's case with a smirk to underline it, and both looked proud too.

"Well done Miss Lucy. I remember Sir Leo to be a lot more difficult as a student."

"Thanks, Capricorn. So now I've got some basic defense moves and two spells down, huh? What next?"

"As we've still got time, hime, you could call Virgo. She could help you with your whip and show how to use the surroundings more with it. After that, if we still have time, I'll try to teach you the light spell to blind opponents," suggested Loke.

"Using the surroundings?"

Capricorn nodded as he answered for Loke, "Yes, Sir Leo is right. Lady Virgo is quite gifted with the whip and surely could give you advice about what to do and teach you a trick or two."

 

Lucy sat up, placing her elbows on her knees and her chin in her palm. She only used Virgo for her digging magic, but there were a few times, where the maid showed her talent with the whip –using her chains as one sometimes. She never really considered asking the maid about it. She simply took it as it was. She did consider her spirits her friends, that was the main reason why she never asked them too much about themselves. She thought her friends would come to her themselves if they wanted to tell her something about themselves, otherwise she wouldn't pry.

"I guess you're right, that's a good idea. Thanks for today's help." The humanoid goat nodded and disappeared back into the spirit world. Loke was here on his own account, using his own magic to stay on Earthland, so she didn't have to worry about him using her magic up.

"You summoned four of us one after another, while learning a few spells- though they may be basic- are you sure you want to summon another right away?" Lucy looked at the lion, smiling brightly at him and giving him all the answers he needed.

"All right, go on."

 

-{~"~}-

 

One-hundred-thirty eight…one-hundred-thirty nine….one-hundred-forty…

Happy watched as the fire Dragon Slayer did one push up after another. He really wanted to win this round and he had been training since this morning.

"Oi, Happy! The how many have I done?" Caught.

"I…I stopped counting at one-hundred-something."

"Again? Well then, let's start over!" Yes, Natsu really wanted to be ready for the last round.

"Aye!"

One…two…three…

 

-{~"~}-

 

"Again!"

"Yes, Gray-sama!" The ice-mage and the water mage too were busy preparing themselves for the last round, training since the early morning hours like the rest. They maybe weren't in the same teams during the games, but they still were in the same Guild after all. Not to forget they both noticed sometimes ago how useful it was for both of them.

Gray admitted that in the beginning, he was surprised that Juvia didn't fangirl-ed over him as much during the training. Not that he minded that she was attracted to him, he just minded that she tend to forget everything around her when she had one of her moments again.

One of Juvia's water attacks hit Gray head on, throwing him onto his back.

"Gray-sama!" The blue haired mage hurried over to the other mage to help him up.

"I'm fine. That one was good, if you land a hit like that in the last round the others will be in trouble." He smiled shortly before turning serious again and attacked Juvia, which she dodged.

"Let's continue."

"Yes. Gray-sama!"

 

-{~"~}-

 

The sound of steal hitting wood resounded through the forest, as Erza's swords hit the tree trunk she was practicing her swordplay on. The last round was getting closer by the minute and she wanted her swordsmen skills to be on top. If she had to fight someone like Kagura, she needed to give it her all. With a cracking sound the tree trunk split into two. She would sharpen her swords before the last round began.

 

-{~"~}-

 

There was no doubt about how many came. Not with the sheer noise. Yes, there was no doubt. It wasn't only the Guilds that couldn't wait for the last round; everyone from all over the lands of Fiore couldn't wait for it. This year's games were just insane. No one could name one, since the first Grand Magic Games, that was anywhere close to this, and it showed.

The stadium was full with so many excited people. It was full. It was loud. It was the last round of the Grand Magic Games and it began now.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"You ready, Luce?" Natsu looked at the blonde at his right.

"Yes, I've been preparing the whole morning with my spirits. Even if I won't be able to stand a chance against one of you guys in hand-to-hand combat, I've got a trick or two on how to use my spirits and the area itself, so I'd be able to outwit my opponent." Grinning, Natsu nodded. He had full confidence in Lucy's abilities –maybe even more than she had herself- and was happy that she had confidence in them too. Gray, who stood behind Lucy, put his hand on her shoulder in a supporting manner.

"We all have full confidence in your abilities and no matter what, we all help each other out when needed," Gray said, reassuringly.

"And we have nothing to worry about. We already showed everyone what we've got. They know we'll win,"Natsu announced with a grin.

"Like Erza-san said. We all are going to give it our best, in the worst case come to me and I'll heal you," said Wendy with a reassuring smile.

"You guys are all right, we're gonna rock this round." The team grinned at each other, none of them doubted that they win, so let the round begin.

 

-{~"~}-

 

It was an all vs all, just her luck. With everyone fighting everyone, there was a chance she'd run into Minerva or Jura; one of the ten wizard saints. With her luck maybe a member of Team B too.

Okay, calm down, take a breath and think; first things first. She was at the moment in a side alley and could see people coming, as long as they didn't jump down on her from one of the roofs, so she could get some tactical-thinking done.

There were seven teams, five players each, so there were thirty-five people in total. Minus ten, who were with her in one of Fairy Tail's teams, five of those won't be fought until the end. She should try to avoid running into one of the stronger ones too, like Kagura or Minerva. She could try to fight someone from Blue Pegasus or Quatro Cerberus . There also were the other Guilds. Mermaid heel and Lamia Scale- against Lyon or Kagura her chances were slim. Not getting taken out could also help, as the other teams wouldn't get a point for beating her. So sticking to the shadows, keeping in the background could be a good tactic. Still, she wanted to fight so…

 

"My, my what's a little pixie doing here all alone? Even the kitten left you?" Lucy's blood ran cold. She had been too deep in her own thoughts. She hadn't noticed someone coming. What good did a hiding place do if she didn't pay attention to whether someone was coming? And now the worst person, worse than Jura in her eyes, as an opponent stood there, mere feet away, smirking.

Somehow she wasn't too sure about fighting anymore. What should she do again when having to face her? Loke told her something, she was sure of it, but what it was escaped her mind.

Was it hiding?

Screaming like a little girl?

Punching her in the nose?

Insulting her?

No, no that wasn't it.

Running? No. No it was-

"Dodge." Lucy stood still, paralyzed by fear as Minerva pointed her open palm at her and smirked sadistically as she told Lucy to dodge –just mere seconds before shooting the magic beam at her.

 

"Open Gate of the Lion!"

"You really should stop getting into situations like this, hime. I'll start to think you're doing it on purpose just so I would come and save you." Lucy sighed, relieved at the familiar voice of the person holding her. That was a close call; Minerva nearly got her. Good thing she remembered what Loke told her to do when facing Minerva. He wanted her to call him, because, for whatever reason, he had taken a personal interest in Minerva, one that wasn't his usual interest in woman.

Loke placed his master down onto her feet again, so that he was now standing in-between the her and the black-haired mage, before turning to face the green-eyed woman.

"Long time no see, my beautiful war-goddess, miss me?" The territory mage glared at the spirit, who only smiled in return. It wasn't that much of a surprise for either of the two that they were facing each other again. For Minerva it was because she knew she wouldn't settle for a tie. For Loke it was because he had this feeling that the black-haired woman would come back to settle their score.

 

"Now would be a good time for you to leave, Luce."

"Eh, but you can't-"

"Oh yes I can. Neither of us has to, nor will, be holding back this time. As much as I love you, this is a one-on-one fight. A third person mixed into this only throws the whole thing off. So move along." Loke made a gesture with his hand for Lucy to leave, while not taking his eyes of Minerva for a second, "I'll take care of her. You go and defeat others. It's a win-win situation for both of us."

The celestial spirit mage looked at the zodiac spirit for a moment, uncertainly.

"Okay, but watch out, will you?" Was it right to leave him? He did want to fight, but it was her fight... or was it? No, it maybe was hers by the game's rules and Loke was only considered part of her magic – the whole reason why he could fight and get points for Fairy Tail was because he was contracted to her and thus counted as her magic, even if he still had the Guild stamp on his back. But this fight…it seemed to be something between those two, something personal for both of them. It wasn't hard to guess why Minerva was so interested in it, but why Loke was, that was a different matter.

"Don't worry, just go and make sure to defeat as many as possible."

"Got it." Lucy nodded once more, before following Loke's order and hurrying away.

 

Now the serious battle began.

He hated it, he really hated it, he always despised being serious. Still, looking at the black-haired mage in front of him, this was like getting a little, scared child's trust –a serious matter, where you had to think seriously but at the same time couldn't act seriously as to not scare the child even more.

"So worried about the little pixie that you sent her away?"

"Nah, more like I wanted to get us some alone time." Minerva glared at the orange-haired lion spirit. How he annoyed her. Was he taking her seriously or not? She didn't know. Why was he acting the way he was towards her? Just yesterday in that bar as example. He didn't behave like she expected him to and especially not like someone whose Guild fought against hers. Was he simply that much of a flirt? Was there more behind his behavior? And what did he mean yesterday, about not knowing her anymore?

"You know, Minerva, I don't understand you." Loke dodged the incoming magic attack aimed at him. The woman really didn't wait before attacking him.

"And what makes you believe you have a right to understand me?" A kick from behind –Minerva had teleported behind the lion and attacked him with a kick.

"I'm worried about you." Blocking a fist aimed at his face Loke countered with ramming his knee into Minerva's stomach.

"Don't make me laugh." A greenish magic beam passed the lion's ear and made the wall behind him crumbled into dust. What a hassle. Neither went all out. They were playing with each other, dancing around the other opponent. Both checking out what the other could do, would do. Minerva attacked, Loke dodged or blocked, Loke attacked and it was the other way around. An endless dance. A sad, destructive one but nevertheless a dance.

 

Dodging another incoming kick by jumping over it, the lion clad his fist in the royal golden light of Regulus counter attack. A smirk curled Minerva's lips. Gotcha. A greenish sphere created itself around the lion, effectively catching him in it. She'd got him, or at least that was what she believed at that moment. Loke on the other hand was aware of a fact Minerva wasn't –he had Aquarius checked it for him yesterday, to make sure he was right. Like water magic had an advantage against fire magic and fire against ice magic, there was a magic effective against space magic like Minerva's too, and it wasn't time magic. And how lucky for him that he knew it –even in the worst case where he didn't know it, he could always get himself a ring with a Lacrima built in for his ring magic that was effective against the Territory magic. Loke's smirk surprised Minerva.

"What are you smirking about?"

"I told you before, I'm lucky you're only so far with your magic, though I also appreciate the view, if you get what I mean." At the last part the lion nodded towards Minerva's chest; the cut of her dress gave him a good view from his position, he wouldn't be himself if he didn't notice it, after all. And usually the other party in question would get flushed, in Minerva's case it only made her more angry.

"What do you mean, lucky?"

 

"Sheesh! Still not giving in to my charms? So fixed on wanting to know why I'm at the advantage here? All right, I tell you," the smirk on his handsome face grew, "if you kiss me!"

Twitch.

Twitch.

"What?!" Loke's lion ears on the top of his head twitched and he was quite sure he'd not only heard Minerva shout. Though, finally he got her flushed too. His smirk was still perfectly in place.

"You heard me."

"You're crazy."

"Yes, yes I am, crazy for you."

"You're mad."

"Not madder than the rest of the world." Minerva's glare hardened. The kitten really got under her skin. Actually, what was stopping her from killing that stupid kitten; according to the rules he was barely more than magical energy and nothing forbade killing him. So nothing, nothing was stopping her. Nothing but the little fact that the kitten held information that could make her stronger. That was the only reason why she put up with him. God he was annoying.

Loke continued smirking while watching the black-haired woman, but with every second he became sadder and sadder. He could feel his heart beating painfully in sorrow, hurting more and more with every beat. He couldn't help but wonder what could have happened had he been faster. Not that he could blame himself –not really- it wasn't like with Karen; he couldn't be held responsible in the only reason it had a connection to him was because he made that connection himself, willingly or not; it didn't really matter.

 

A way too highly paid job, if the description had been right –which it wasn't.

Another sorrowful thud in his chest. Was missing knowledge an excuse? The lion shook his head, his gaze still fixed on Minerva. Was she really fighting the way people said she was? Was she planning on fighting that way? Like the person people admired on the outside but were afraid to face in battle?

"Let's make a deal, kitten." She still threw out that nickname–as much as he disliked being referred to as kitten it seemed to have stuck- like poison, but what she wanted to say made him raise an eyebrow in question.

"We finish these games. If my Guild, if Sabertooth, wins you tell me what I want to know."

Loke nodded; that didn't sound like a bad deal at all, now for his own conditions: "But if Fairy Tail wins, you listen to me."

"Why should I?"

"Well, first of all I know the trick of getting out of here, so I don't have to make a deal."

Minerva frowned. She didn't have an argument against that, but still, "that doesn't mean I agree to a deal that is basically torture considering I would have to listen to you."

 

Loke sighed. This woman was stubborn, really, really stubborn. In the end they wanted the same thing; she wanted to know what he knew and he wanted her to listen to what he has to say -he would tell her what he knew about her magic than too. But he would also remind her of why she was important to him.  
But this stubbornness…just where did she get it from? He had only met her for a really short time. He didn't have much time to talk with this person but…Loke closed his eyes as he remembered that suffocating darkness and the foul smell. He could still remember the blood on his hands…No…He opened his eyes again.

 

"You really are stubborn and blind at the same time. Who did you get it from? It has to be your father; I don't remember your mother having this blind stubbornness."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my Beta Rainiebug (Fanfiction.net name)


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy hurried through the streets. It had been silent for the last few minutes from the direction where she left Loke and Minerva. She wondered what happened back there. Was the lion alright? She stopped, standing in the middle of the street. Maybe she should go back and see if he was okay? She could summon a second spirit to help him fight… ' _Ah, no, no, no! I have to find someone I can fight against and win to get points! Loke said he wanted to face Minerva alone!_ '

Steps echoed through the silence around her, coming out of an alley to her right. So now her battle arrived, huh? Taking her whip into her hands, she turned to face the alley, ready to battle. The steps became louder, the person came closer. Gulp. Lucy tightened her grip around her whip's handle. Usually she would try and avoid fighting, but it was time for her to fight for once, wasn't it? The person exited the alley and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief in seeing a friendly face, even if she would have to fight him.

 

"Hibiki."

"Lucy," the blond Blue Pegasus mage greeted her, "it looks like we're going to fight, huh?" Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Then let's make this a fair one, shall we? I'm not going to hold back."

"Neither will I!" Hibiki nodded, acknowledging the girl's words as he raised his hands.

 

Lucy jumped aside as the monitors appeared in front of her, before they could explode in her face. The magical whip Lucy had gotten from Virgo swished through the air, barely missing the other mage as he called for another monitor to protect him. Hibiki was skilled in what he was doing, but he was no fighter; he was more suited for getting information and planning tactics. In other words, a good opponent for Lucy; they both used their brains more than their brawn and would choose an intellectual solution over a punch-someone's-nose-in solution. This wouldn't only be a battle of power but one of intelligence too.

Lucy's whip wrapped itself around Hibiki's ankle, pulling his leg from beneath him – he just managed to keep himself from kissing the floor by letting himself fall backwards as his foot was pulled forward, thus landing on his backside. A screen exploded next to Lucy's feet, making her lose her concentration for a moment and thus loosening the whip, giving Hibiki the chance to get his foot free and clamber upright. Sure, they both agreed this to be a fair fight, but that didn't keep them from using every possible tactic and trick they could think of – as long as it was with in their magical abilities, it still counted as fair after all. They used their abilities in every way possible to gain the upper hand, Hibiki with his archive magic and Lucy with her whip - she didn't wanted to use too much magic for now. Still, she would have to think of something soon. Maybe she had an idea - even though she didn't want to use up her magic and it would cost her some, it was her best shot against an opponent like Hibiki.

A snapping sound ricocheted through the street as the whip swished through the air. By jumping aside, Hibiki managed to dodge at the last second. He had to be careful; Lucy was good with the whip and could still summon spirits like the archer or the mermaid. He would be at a bit of a disadvantage if she did summon a spirit like one of those two. Usually he wouldn't do this unless it was necessary, he reminded himself, but before Lucy could summon a spirit he had to finish this.

He snapped his fingers, a few dozen screens appeared around Lucy. Surprised, the spirit mage looked at Hibiki through the space between two monitors. Those monitors would cause an explosion –just what she needed. The monitors cracked and burst into a huge blast, with Lucy in the middle of it.

It wasn't long before everything was deathly silent again.

The brain of the Trimens hurried to the small crater the blonde lay in. He wanted to make sure she was alright and was only knocked out; he didn't wanted to hurt her badly just so he could win. Before he managed to get any further than two feet away from the unconscious mage, a knee collided with the side of his head, throwing him a few feet away. His back hit the hard ground under him and he sharply gasped for air.

What was that? Did someone wait for him and Lucy to finish their fight before attacking the victor? That would be mean, and bad sportsmanship.

He turned around and stood up to face his new opponent. He should take the fight further away from Lucy, to make sure the blonde wouldn't get any more damage just because she got caught in the crossfire while she was knocked out.

Hibiki couldn't think of much of a plan when he actually saw his new opponent. How could that be? It couldn't be. There, before him, stood a second Lucy!

He could only come up with one explanation: Transformation magic.

There were only two people he knew who used transformation magic. Mirajane and Jenny. He doubted Mirajane would turn into her defeated friend just to catch him off guard, and Jenny was on his team so hadn't any reason to attack him. Who else knew transformation magic here? Maybe Mirajane taught Lucy? But that wouldn't explain why there were two Lucys looking totally identical- though one unconscious and hurt because of his last attack.

 

Wait.

 

Lucy, transformation magic, and two in different places?

Hibiki dodged a whip slash by the second Lucy by jumping aside.

Who was the real Lucy now? The one lying on the ground or the one attacking? Hibiki wasn't sure as he, again, dodged under a whip slash.

"Wh-what?!" A second whip came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around his torso, binding his arms to his upper body, hindering him –even his fingers he couldn't move with how tightly the whip had snaked itself around him. The other Lucy, she wasn't unconscious! She used her own whip to keep him in one place so he wouldn't be able to defend himself anymore.

"Gemi! Mini! Now!" The second Lucy, the unhurt one, glowed at the other blonde's words and changed…into him! The other him, Gemini, smirked at him and snapped his finger.

'Oh snap', Hibiki thought as dozens of monitors appeared around him and exploded.

"Thanks Gemi, Mini," Lucy smiled at the Gemini Hibiki who popped into its two small and alien looking selves.

"Piri-Piri!" The golden key in Lucy's hand glowed and the spirit returned to its world.

Lucy sighed, relieved. She had to thank the twin spirits properly later- and Capricorn as well, for bringing the idea - of asking the twin spirits to help her - up. It was lucky, she thought, that she was able to call the spirits a short moment before the explosion and that she was able to use two of the spells Loke taught her earlier -a shield spell that prevented her from being knocked out and a light spell so Hibiki wouldn't notice her summoning the twins spirits in the chaos of the blast. She had talked the plan through with the two of them earlier - that they would transform into, and act like, her immediately when they were summoned so this trick could work on most she might have ended up fighting.

Well, at least she got a point for her team, though she didn't like fighting her friends that much. Sure, for fun – though she didn't see it as nearly as much fun as it was for Natsu- and training was something different, but to approach this whole thing like Sabertooth hellbent on winning was just a big 'no' in her books. Yes, she wanted to win and all, but she didn't want to do it like Sabertooth, who –she was quite sure- would go and sell their own grandmother if that meant they would win.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"So…Miss Lucy wasn't knocked out and only acted as if she was to trick Hibiki?" Chapati looked confusedly at the other two commentators, "That means the point goes to team Fairy Tail A instead of Blue Pegasus, doesn't it?"

"It does seem like it. Indeed a clever trick she used there, but would it work a second time?"said the old friend of Makarov, who kept mostly calm and silent while watching the fights, though that didn't keep him from commenting when asked.

The fight between Lucy and Hibiki was not the only one on the monitors. There was the heated battle between Minerva and Loke, which had only become more heated after Loke escaped a sphere Minerva tried to hold him in.

There were also Kagura and Erza, who would run into each other soon by the way things looked; they both were heading to the same destination. And both sky slayers, Wendy and Sherria, were still walking around looking for someone to fight.

This, surely, was going to be an interesting final round. With the powers those mages possessed, every fight would have something interesting to watch.

And, ah, there were Mirajane and Jenny, just running into each other in the streets.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"Hello, Jenny," the white-haired Take-over mage called, greeting her friend that she had already won against in an earlier round.

"Mira," Jenny greeted with a smile. Exactly the one she wanted to fight. She was still a bit peeved about her last loss because of that bet they made –it was so embarrassing- even if the bet was her idea. Well now, lucky her, she got a second chance.

"This time I won't lose to you!" Jenny promised. Mirajane tilted her head sideways slightly and smiled a warm smile.

"What kind of bet do you want to make this time? Does the loser have to pose for pictures again?" The blonde vehemently shook her head, blond curls swishing with the movement through the air.

"Not today. After all, today is about defeating as many competitors as possible, so no need to impress a jury or make petty bets."

"Petty bets?" Mirajane looked thoughtful, tipping her finger against her cheek, "if I remember correctly, weren't you pretty upset about losing the bet?"

Jenny growled at her friend's words, hands clenching into fists, as she exclaimed: "It was a petty bet, got it?!"

"All right, whatever you say," Mirajane soothed Jenny with another smile before continuing, "Should we start then, going all out from the beginning?" Jenny nodded and transformed with her Take-Over magic into her battle form, simultaneously Mirajane turned into her Satan Soul: Stiri.

Charging at each other, both loaded their magical attacks.

"Hi-ya!"

"Kya!" With a crash, Jenny landed against a wall, completely overpowered by Mirajane. Mirajane released her Take-over and smiled across to her defeated friend.

"This was fun. We have to do it again sometime," the white-haired mage announced happily as she waved at her friend before hurrying away to get another point by defeating another mage.

Fairy Tail Team B's points raised by one.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"Iron-"

"Shadow-"

"Dragon Roar!" The two Dragon Slayers' magic met halfway, creating an explosion. Both Dragon Slayers jumped back, out of the dust cloud that was created by the explosion.

"Gajeel-san," the Shadow Dragon Slayer wiped some blood away from his mouth with the back of his hand.

'He's strong', thought Rogue. He always wanted to fight the Iron Dragon Slayer, ever since he heard of him all those years ago he had admired him. Though, as he heard that his idol had been unable to slay a dragon and disappeared god knows where, Rogue was devastated and angry at his idol for disappointing him like that. He felt almost betrayed by his idol for causing that disappointment.

Rogue darted into the shadows so as not to be hit by Gajeel's fist that had turned into iron.

Yesterday, Natsu had beaten him and Sting. He totally overpowered them. He wiped the floor with both of them. Rogue wondered if Gajeel was just as strong as the pink-haired Dragon Slayer, he wanted to know, he needed to know.

He dodged another iron fist and moved to attack, himself.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"First Master," Makarov looked at the blonde master that had the appearance of a child.

"There're a few things happening I haven't calculated correctly. Mostly their true relationships," Mavis said as she nodded at the screen that showed Loke and Minerva.

"Spirits are always a bit of a wild card for a strategist. Another person that could - but doesn't have to - show up and join the fight. I did believe that Minerva would seek out either Erza -because she's the strongest female in Fairy Tail- or Lucy, because of the Navel Battle. That Lucy would go and summon Loke then, I expected too. But that he insisted for Lucy to leave, so giving her the chance to defeat someone else while he fights Minerva..." It was good this way in the end. One of the strongest mages of their greatest rival Guild was kept busy and even if Loke lost, Sabertooth wouldn't get the points for it and Minerva would have used a lot of magical energy to fight him. If Loke won, they would simply get the point as Loke counted as a part of Lucy's magic. Not to mention that Lucy had other spirits too.

Mavis learned a long time ago that spirits weren't simply marionettes. They had consciousness and awareness like humans and other living beings, and they had feelings and emotions. To view a being with these things as a marionette was disgusting. Also, they were one of the few entities that could survive being hit by Zeref's death magic, because of what they were, and were able to counter it to some degree, in theory –her master had once told her about it. Moreover, even if many tended to forget it, they had feelings and a mind of their own and one should treat them like a living human being, because then they would be willing to do nearly everything for their friend and master, like Lucy's spirits did. ' _Spirits were, when they trusted and cared for someone, one of the loyalist beings in the world_ ' her master once taught her.

 

"How do you think it will end, first master?"

"I am praying for Fairy Tail to win, but the other fighters are strong too. The fact that Minerva is now using up her magic and wouldn't get points when beating Loke, we're at an advantage here. If Loke beats Minerva and goes fighting others after that we'd have even more of an advantage. But, taking a spirit into ones calculation is one of the hardest tasks for a tactician, because spirits are always a wild card, no matter how loyal they are." Makarov nodded, but thought it to be necessary to inform the first master of something she hadn't been informed of before.

"Loke was- is a member of Fairy Tail too." To say that the first master was surprised wasn't a lie. She never heard of a case where a spirit joined his or her master's guild. That was a loyalty that surprised even her.

"He is?"

"Yes, he became a member two years before Lucy, while he was banned from the Celestial Spirit World. He was held responsible for his former Master's death." Now Mavis turned her head towards the sixth master.

"He was banned?"

The sixth master nodded, remembering the story Lucy and Loke told him after they formed a contract and told him of the reason why Loke left the Guild –not that he ever did as long as he still had the Guild stamp on him.

"Yes, he was banned and lived on earthland for three years, two of them as a member of Fairy Tail, before he formed a contract with Lucy."

"Three years? That's impressive. I've never heard of a case where a spirit survived for longer than a few days on their own in earthland, unless they fused with a human. Their magical force, which basically resembles their life force, would simply give out."

"I hadn't heard of a case like this either. Maybe someone or something had mercy on him and let him continue living, or maybe his will and magical core is simply that strong."

Mavis agreed with a nod. That was something she was surely interested in and she would ask the spirit at a later date about it, also the reason why he was actually blamed for his former master's death and banned. For now though, she'd let it rest. Mavis knew it was painful and a draining for a spirit to stay on earthland on their own and would usually weaken and ultimately kill one in little over a week; it must have been traumatic for Loke. Moreover, the amount of magic it cost…

If he did stay on earthland for three years…Mavis could only wonder how powerful he was when not holding back or being summoned; most people couldn't summon their spirits at full strength. How strong was he in his world, where he could use his full power without a handicap?

 

-{~"~}-

 

Natsu jumped down a roof and knocked out a member of Quatro Puppies with a flame-clad fist. Point number five for him. So far he knocked out a member of Mermaid Heel –that friend of Erza's-, one of Lamia Scale and two of Quatro Puppies. Small fry. But he was searching for Sting and other members of Sabertooth before one of them could run into Wendy or Lucy. Sure, they were both maybe strong, but Sabertooth was ruthless and he didn't wanted anything happen to the two girls.

So he was on the lookout for the strongest ones, and was knocking out the small fry on the way. That way he could make sure that nothing happened to the two girls and get points for Fairy Tail, a fool-proof plan.

"All right! Where are you Sabertooth?! I'm all fired up!" the fire Dragon slayer yelled out as he hurried further through the city. He would make sure that Sabertooth wouldn't -couldn't- hurt his friends.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Hisui watched from her perch. So far so good. There still wasn't an end in sight. She wouldn't rush things. She would wait and see if the person was right about how things would turn out with the games... and, if said person was right, then she would initiate the Eclipse plan. Until then she just had to wait and see. She concentrated once more on the fight she found the most interesting.

The fight between Sabertooth's strongest mage and the leader of the zodiacs.

 

-{~"~}-

 

The stone fence, which was meant to keep people from falling down onto the streets below, crumbled into pieces.

The person that had been stood on it until now jumped aside, kicking one of the bigger pieces at his opponent. No one could blame him for saying that this was getting out of control, completely.

Half the area they were in now was almost fully reduced to dust and debris, and he was quite sure the alley they were in before shared the same fate. They went all out now –he hadn't even had the time to get annoyed with his jacket being ripped to shreds, much less mourning it. At least its sacrifice was for a good cause; he managed to send Minerva flying from the roof of a three story house because he used his jacket to take the brunt of an attack for him and dodged around it himself, going directly for a counter.

He smirked. It seemed they were equal in strength.

Still, there were a few advantages he had. Firstly, he had lived longer than she had and he had more experience. Secondly he knew her magic -even things she didn't even know about- while she hadn't any advanced knowledge about his. Thirdly, he wasn't completely enraged and thus he could think straighter since his mind was clearer than hers.

He grabbed a flag mast than hang horizontally to the ground and swung around, dodging another incoming attack and landing with his feet on the metal mast. One advantage from when you've been fighting Brixlow and trying to get close to him: you learn an acrobatic trick or three –like balancing on this thin flagpole while all around and under you were explosions, making the building the pole was attached to shake.

He was quite happy that Lucy listened to him and left, and that Minerva hasn't followed her. Sure, it was likely that she would have been pissed enough to target him as soon as he showed up –another reason why he asked Lucy to call him when facing her- but still, she could have taken Lucy hostage to force him to give up. Luckily, it didn't happen and Lucy got away, so she wouldn't end up as collateral damage.

Loke jumped off the mast, not a second too early as it was crushed into pieces -together with the wall next to it- as soon as he jumped off.

Landing swiftly on his feet in a crouched position, with his hands on the ground behind Minerva, he turned around, swiping his outstretched leg over the ground and knocking the black-haired mage off her feet. Minerva fell backwards and Loke took this moment to ram his elbow into her chest and, with one swift movement, stand up again and turn one-hundred eighty degrees, grabbing her head and smashing it on the hard floor below their feet.

 

The floor cracked.

Cracks appeared around her vision and she could feel a thin trail of blood trickling down her temple, going along her eyebrow and down the side of her face.

The grip on her head loosened and Minerva rolled her eyes up. Looking through his separated fingers, Minerva glared up at the oversized kitty. He was toying with her! He was humiliating her! In the worse way possible. He had held back, he didn't take her seriously! He didn't go all out; he stopped. She noticed it. A tiny moment, a mere blink of the eye and one would have missed it for sure, shortly before he crushed her head into the ground he stopped. He stopped and thus took a great deal of force out of his move. If he hadn't she would surely have suffered more damage than a small bleeding wound or a headache.

The grip loosened completely and the orange haired spirit jumped back, out of her limbs reach, landing with his knees bent in a crouching position again. Clever, so she couldn't hit him directly without him seeing her movements. She didn't wanted to use her most powerful spell on him already –that wouldn't be the victory she wanted; she wanted to beat him, humiliate him, make him regret ever having crossed her. Her spell would prevent her from doing just that. So far, she only used her magic with her most basic techniques, which meant that the further he was away, the easier he could dodge her spells.

She pulled herself up. She would destroy him. No one would better her, no one would. She was the strongest and she would destroy everyone who said otherwise. She glared further at the oversized kitten.

How dare he?! How dare he look at her with such an expression?! How dare he look at her with pity! She could feel the hatred inside her flare up. She'll destroy him.

Shooting swirling green and black beams at him, one after another, she charged at him. A fist flew at him. He side stepped it and spun around as he pulled himself up again to re-do his move from earlier, to throw Minerva onto the ground again through the momentum of his spin. He grabbed her hand to pull her forward, to make her stumble so he could hit her in the back again…

This time, though, Minerva was prepared for Loke's movements. She bent her body so that she could catch herself with her hands, and force Loke to let go of her hand; otherwise he would have been pulled along with her. With a cartwheel movement, she leapt back to her feet.

"You're a fast learner. You recognized right away that I would try the same move again."

"Save your breath for someone who cares to listen to you."

"You're so cold." The lion knocked Minerva's arm away as she tried to hit him again, in the same moment that he kicked her, hitting her waist with his knee, making her lose her footing. The territory mage dodged another attack of the lion by leaping up into the air. She turned on her axle and used the momentum to kick Loke's head. The force, strengthened by the momentum from her spin, threw him down, sideways, landing him on his back. Triumphantly, Minerva stood above him, her open palm pointing towards his face as her magic, a sparking greenish sphere, pooled in front of it.

"Any last words before I shut you up once and for all?" Normally Minerva wouldn't make a rookie mistake like this; letting her enemy collect himself, to counter. Usually she would finish him off right away, but he just pissed her off so much, so, so much, that she wasn't thinking straight.

Loke smirked, it was easy - and funny- to get his opponent caught off guard.

 

"Next time can you wear a shorter skirt, or nothing at all?"

 

"What?" It was easy to get her off guard and then it was easy to hit her. People like her, who always clung to their last thread of control, were easily shaken when something happened they didn't anticipate, that they couldn't control. And that causes them to make mistakes, shaking them up even further- and this made it easy for Loke.

A golden light hit Minerva square in the chest and threw her back a few feet before she landed, like the spirit had before, on her back.

She gasped for air. Damn that cocky kitten bastard! Damn him! She knew, she shouldn't have given him time to think, to say something, to get a way out of his tight spot. She cursed under her breath. She should have seen that coming. If she hadn't had wasted time like that, he wouldn't had have time to use his magic, to get her off guard- she would have won! That stupid, stupid, cocky little kitty.

She actually hadn't wanted to use these spells on him, she'd wanted to save them for other opponents- after all, she only went for him, for his master, first because of the Navel Battle. But now it seemed like she would have to; she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to win. Damn that cocky cat! She had wanted those spells for when she was fighting Erza! But no, now she had to use them on a stupid little spirit kitten! It seemed she had miscalculated his strength and fighting technique.

He was stronger than she thought, than she had even considered and most of all stronger than he let on. During their whole fight, not once was he really worried about it; he had joked, made comments and countered her attacks almost lazily. That was something one would only do when he was either completely overestimating himself... or actually had the abilities and knowledge to back it up. And, while she would have liked to believe it to be the former, she was quite sure it was the latter.

No matter though, she'll destroy him once and for all. She rose to her feet again, ready to fight, ready to destroy him.

 

_Steps echoed through the dark hallway, coming closer and closer to the door, to the room where the small girl was hiding under the old, ripped bed._

 

-{~"~}-

 

Erza dodged Kagura's attack- or rather, she tried. The sword's tip hit the scarlet-haired mage's side, knocking her from the air and onto the ground. With a clatter, the reequip mage landed on her feet. This was bad. Three of her armours had already been cut down to ribbons by the Mermaid Heel Guild member. That woman sliced through her armours as if they were butter! She had to think of something fast, or else Mermaid Heel would gain five whole points for defeating her!

Using her reequip magic, two new swords materialised in her hands. If defending herself was useless, and Kagura was able to cut through her armour, she would go for the offensive. Explosively, she attacked, swinging the swords with rapid speed at the black-haired mage.

It was no use. Kagura was able to block her attacks with ease.

There had rarely been a time where she had been so outmatched like this. If she didn't think of something fast…

The sheathed sword struck Erza in her stomach again, sending her flying backwards to the ground, hard, one hand holding her hurting stomach.

"Why? I don't understand why. Why are you protecting Jellal? Millianna told me what he did to all of you, especially to you, so why?" Erza got up on shaky feet. Kagura was good and it looked as if her hatred for Jellal was making her even stronger. Not something Erza liked; she believed in the power of friendship and forgiveness not hatred and desire for vengeance. Revenge...that was a good point actually. What was the source of Kagura's hatred of Jellal? Why was she so set on revenge?

Erza jumped aside, skirting Kagura's sword, and reequipped into another armour; a pair of red pants covering her legs and bandages wrapped around her chest, hair pulled bag into a ponytail. No shoes, no magical abilities in these clothes or in the two new swords in her hands. Her armours so far had been useless; Kagura was cutting them down one after the other so there was no use wasting her time on those. It was like being back in the Tower again; where she first donned these clothes against another opponent where her armours had been useless.

"Why do you hate him so much? You weren't in the Tower!" You don't know the full story, Erza added in her mind. Kagura glared at Erza, attacking again, but this time Erza managed to block with her swords. Both women were locked in a battle of strength, fiercely pushing their swords against each other, each trying to overpower the other.

"Because Simon, who was killed by Jellal, was my brother!"

Erza's eyes widened and Kagura used Erza's surprise to push her back onto the ground. Simon's sister? Erza remembered her old friend who had died protecting her, and how he died. In the end, it wasn't Jellal who killed him, but her own incompetence. Her own incompetence led to Simon protecting her and dying. But that was something Kagura didn't know, what most people outside of Fairy Tail didn't know.

 

"It wasn't Jellal." Kagura stared at the woman before her. How could she still defend that man after everything he did? Not only to her brother or Millianna but to her too.

"It wasn't Jellal who killed Simon."

"What?!" The scarlet-haired woman looked at the ground near Kagura's feet, regret shining in her eyes.

"It was me. Simon died because of me. It is my fault that he's dead." Kagura saw red. This! This! This person! This person killed her brother! Her body went on autopilot, her head was just so filled with rage. Through the thick mist of rage that clouded her mind, Kagura barley registered how she reached for her sword. With one pull she unsheathed it and let it clash down onto the woman beneath her.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Lucy whirled around as she heard the explosion- or both explosions. There had been two. One came from the Colosseum-like building, the other from the direction of the area she left Loke in. She had to shield her eyes with her hands to protect them from the light coming from both.

"What was that?" she muttered, uncovering her eyes again after the lights had died down. She looked, horrified, towards the place she had left Loke. His and Minerva's fight had to have been close to the explosion, or the source of it. Was the lion alright? Was he hurt? Just what was that? It was Aries who answered her outspoken question. The lamb was still there from a fight against another competitor.

"It looked like one of Leo-nii's spells was mixed into one of the explosions!"

"What?!" Lucy looked at her spirit with wide eyes before she again fixed her eyes on the direction the explosion came from.

"Loke…" She was worried. Maybe she really shouldn't have left him to fight the Sabertooth mage alone? On the other hand, what use would she have been if she stayed? None. Loke was strong and cable of taking care of himself. Still she was worried for her friend. What if another Sabertooth mage came to help Minerva and attacked Loke from behind? Ah, no, no, no! Lucy shook her head, she couldn't think like that! She had confidence in the lion's abilities after all, hadn't she? He was one of her strongest spirits. She had no reason to doubt him. He would be okay, wouldn't he?

He always could return to spirit world when it became too much... and he would do that too, wouldn't he? He surely would. He would, wouldn't he? He had to.

 

"Do you know which spell it was he used in that explosion? He never told me what kind of, and how many, spells he knows." Lucy turned her face from the direction of the explosion for a moment to watch her spirit's expression. Aries looked thoughtfully towards the direction Loke had been while thinking of an answer.

"It was surely one of his more powerful ones. A wide area one and probably one that can be used for both attack and defense…hmm…I don't think it was Lion's Brilliance, I'm quite sure about that; it was more powerful. He does know a few that could have this effect and are powerful enough. But I can't say for sure which on Leo-nii used, I'm sorry." Lucy nodded to show that she understood and turned back to worriedly look for any signs of more fighting from that direction.  
So, it really was a spell of his she didn't know or hadn't been told about so far. It didn't come as a surprise for her, really. Capricorn once told her that Celestial Spirits had their own kind of -because she hadn't had a better word for it- family magic that only they and members of their family could use, like Loke's Regulus magic, which could only be used by Loke and other members of Loke's family as far as she knew. But the goat spirit also mentioned some exceptions, though he didn't go into detail.

Furthermore, they didn't tend to share their knowledge with humans anymore. Loke mentioned something like that but said he couldn't tell her all the reasons as he wasn't allowed to, only that it had to do with a former Celestial mage who went... how did Loke put it... rogue, as in he went and killed many people.

Back to the point though, if he used a powerful spell, did that mean he was in trouble or not? Or did he just finish the battle with that spell? And once more she wondered if she should hurry back to check on him. Yes? No? Would he be angry? Would he feel like she didn't trust him or didn't have any confidence in him? She just wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't used to being separated from her spirits during a battle, it only happened once before so far; when Loke fought the possessed Capricorn.

 

"Lucy?" the shy lamb spoke, trying to get Lucy attention, worry for her anxious master clear in her soft voice.

"There is no way that Leo-nii used a spell like this and his opponent is still able to stand, let alone fight." Lucy turned, once again, to the lamb. The shy female sounded sure of her words, more than sure.

"I maybe not able to tell which spell it was exactly that he used, but I know his abilities, better than you even. We grew up together, all of us Zodiacs have known each other since we were kids, we trained together for years. I saw him train with the Celestial King from time to time before his banishment. He wasn't able to beat him but still…Leo-nii isn't someone you have to worry about, he doesn't want you to worry about him, he can take care of himself. That's how it's always been and, with how stubborn he can be, that's how it may always be. The thing you should do now is concentrate on getting all the points you can get, that's what he wants you to do." That was probably the most Lucy had heard Aries say at once ever, and the most confident she ever heard her too.

Lucy allowed herself a small smile. The pink-haired spirit was right in the end. She knew it and told herself time and time again the same thing; that she doesn't have to worry about her friend, that he would be alright. It still didn't stop her from fretting about him though, maybe that's just how she was, she always worried over her other friends when they fought, even when they could take care of themselves. Nevertheless, Aries was right. The lion was very capable of taking care of himself; he had done so for years. She was just over-worried and over-thinking.

"D-did I say something wrong? I'm sorry!"

"No, no you didn't say anything wrong Aries. You said just the right thing." Lucy smiled gratefully at the spirit as Aries started to glow, signaling her return to the spirit realm.

"Thank you for your help, Aries." Lucy clipped the golden gate key back onto the ring on her belt with the rest of her keys. So far she got two points for her team. Not bad for someone who rarely fought and tried to stay out of it as much as possible. Though those points, those wins she owned to her spirits, her friends, without their help she wouldn't have gotten so far.

"Huh?" The blonde mage blinked as one of her keys glowed softly. A telepathic massage from Loke, like that time on Tenrou where he did the same thing to tell her how the fight between Capricorn ended.

She was surprised over the contents of the short message he had sent her just now, but she smiled.

Now she really had to give it her all!

 

-{~"~}-

 

Erza breathed heavily. That was close. She barely managed to block that last one and now she was barely able to stand up again. Kagura was strong, there was no denying it, but she couldn't lose. This was about her guild, she had to win for her friends, her family. Seven years. Seven years they had to go through hell, waiting for them to return, not knowing if they were still alive or not. Now it was time to repay them for the waiting, for those seven years. Even if she had to fight Simon's little sister.

A cracking sound pulled Erza's attention away from Kagura and to the ceiling above her. Huge chunks of it came falling down, too damaged to hold together any longer, one massive piece slicing down directly above Kagura.

Acting on instinct alone, the reequip mage moved forward, pushing the black-haired woman out of the way of the falling rock. She was a Fairy Tale mage after all; it was like second nature to them to save others. Pain shot from her foot through her whole body as she landed on the ground. Astonished, Kagura stared at her uttering only one word: "Why?"

So Kagura actually didn't remember her saving all those years ago.

 

-{~"~}-

 

He walked through the almost completely deserted streets, the arena being his destination. He didn't know why he decided to go there. It wasn't like he had any interest in the Grand Magic Games. No, for him they were only some senseless fighting and a waste of magic and energy. He didn't mind when they were weak when he attacked, but he would think people would have more brains than this. What would happen if any of the neighbouring kingdoms decided to attack? With their strongest mages exhausted because of these games, their strongest forces would be useless, and the soldiers were simply weak against mages, that's how it's always been.

He pulled his hood further over his face. It wouldn't do him any good if someone saw and recognized him, even if it could bring an end to everything faster.

The noise hit him the second he stepped into the stadium. Hundreds and thousands of people were there, cheering for the team they wanted to win. Voices of cheering fans, mixed with the shouting of the commentators, the booming sounds of the fights shown on the screens and the soft buzzing sound of magic lingering in the air. It was how someone would expect the finals of the Grand Magic Games to be and it was not something he cared for.

He stood at the highest place possible without standing on the wall, able to overlook everything in the stadium. Just why did he decide to go here? His eyes wandered over the people on the other side of the stadium. There was the Fairy Tail Guild, the members that didn't participate in the Games and the Master of Fairy Tail too, standing there and cheering for their fighters. And there was something else too. He couldn't see what, but he could feel it, even from his position on the other side of the stadium. There was a strong magical aura of something unknown, unseen. Well, no, no it wasn't really unknown, was it? But it was certainly something unexpected.

Mavis. The first master of Fairy Tail. He shook his head and turned to leave. If Mavis was the reason why he felt drawn here, then there wasn't anything more for him to see, even if he hadn't expect Mavis's spirit to leave her island.

A glimmer of gold. He stopped, his eyes fixed on a screen. What his eyes had caught on as he turned made him halt. The screen displayed the celestial spirit mage holding up a small golden key. A key he once knew rather well. The water-bearer key.

How long ago was it since he had held that key in his hands? He could still remember the moment when he had held it for the first time. What was that key doing here? How could it be here? How? After what happened…

He shook his head to clear his mind and turned fully away, tearing his eyes off the key. It didn't matter. It didn't matter anymore. It was so long ago. Nothing mattered anymore.

He walked away, leaving the stadium, the battle and his memories of a time so long ago, a time where he could still care without fear.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"So…now only Sting is left to fight both Fairy Tail teams?" The whole stadium was shocked into silence. That was something no one would have expected at the start of this year's games. The only one left who wasn't a member of Fairy Tail was the Light Dragonslayer Sting. Even though all Fairy Tail members were beaten and exhausted, they simply outnumbered Sting by far and for him to beat them all was simply close to impossible. And, the realisation hit like a tonne of bricks- when they beat Sting, Fairy Tail would win, even if they didn't have enough points; one team would only have to defeat the other to get enough so, in short, no-matter what happened, Fairy Tail would win.

-{~"~}-

He waited. He had given them all a sign to where he was, to come here to him. Now he only had to wait and then he would beat Fairy Tail. He had to. For Lector. He had to win this. He just had to.

Sitting there on the boulder, he waited. They should be there soon. And yes, just as he finished his thought, his ears picked up noises. Small cracks, the swishing of clothes, the soft sound of steps. They were close now. His fight was close now. Standing there were the Fairy Tail fighters. All of them. Not a single one missing and all of them looked beaten up. All with cuts and bruises, all bleeding and still, they had all the same look on their face.

He could feel himself trembling. Was he afraid? No, not exactly. He wasn't afraid, was he? They just all had such determined looks on their faces. They all were beaten and bruised, were bleeding and some of their bones were even broken... and yet.

Erza was barely able to stand on her own feet without support. Laxus, marked from his fight against the wizard saint. Wendy, the youngest of them, cut and bruised, clothes torn and wounds barely healed. The other weren't in a much different condition... and yet... they still had these determined looks on their faces. How was it that they could still stand like that?

After all they went through, how could they still stand with their heads held high like that?

He couldn't win. It hit him like a wrecking ball smashing through a house, that dry realization. He couldn't, he wouldn't win. His knees quivered, his legs gave in under him. He fell to his knees. He just couldn't win. Tears ran down his face. He wouldn't, he couldn't, he just couldn't win, so why try? After what they went through those seven years, the humiliation their Guild suffered and then as they joined the Grand Magic Games still being able to walk with their heads held high…they deserved this…

' _Please forgive me Lector._ '

"I give up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my Beta Rainiebug (Fanfiction.net name)


	5. Chapter 5

Watching her cry as if someone had just died, as he had cried when he learnt of his mother's death, was heart wrenching. He sat down beside her, softly patting her head with his ring-adorned hand. The fact that she let him do so, without complaining –as she once had- or threatening to kill him was either a sign of her having accepted him or just being in too much of a depressed state to care. He believed the latter to be the case, but wished for it to be the former. Why she cried over the loss of a tournament like this was something he didn't fully understand, nor comprehend. Maybe because he just didn't care much about it?

If it hadn't been so important to Lucy and the rest of his Guild, he wouldn't have paid it the slightest mind. Okay, maybe that had changed when he entered the Navel Battle to help Lucy, as soon he sensed his key being taken and her being in trouble. It was quite a surprise for him to see a rather familiar face, besides the ones of his friends. He couldn't say he expected it, neither what followed after it. While he actual hoped that they'd meet again, he never thought it be like that. The chaos created by the Navel battle had made one thing clear to him in his mind; she didn't remember.

How and why, though, he didn't know and that worried him, scared him even. Why hadn't he noticed that something wasn't right? Why hadn't he kept his promise? He didn't know what scared him more- that she couldn't remember or that she didn't want to remember. Either way, he would have broken his promise. Was it really something he was responsible for though? He had believed she would be safe and well cared for with her father.

 

He sighed, silently, while continuing to pat Minerva's head. That a loss in a game had such an effect on her, or anyone for that matter, bemused him. Losing wasn't the most fun thing in the world, true, and could be rather depressing but it didn't mean everything was for nought, nor did it destroy the experiences gained in the fight for victory- well, losing this tournament didn't, at least. Why was winning this important to her? Just why? What made her become like this? He would ask her, but, with the state she was in at the moment, it would be useless to try. Unless he could make her angry again and that somehow prompted her into telling him the reason- or rather, shouting the reason at him in her rage. No, that wouldn't be right, at least for now when she already was so down.

For now, he wouldn't ask or say anything until she calmed down; for now, he would just simply be there. With that decision made he let the time pass in silence. The only sounds interrupting the silence were the quiet sobs from the woman next to him.

He let his gaze wander over the area. The both of them had done a rather nice job on it, if they were members of the demolition committee. The buildings had crumbled into pieces, those that were still standing threatened to collapse at any given moment. The streets were ripped open and cracked, here and there he could see the pipes peeking out through the fissures. Some had survived the onslaught, others were just as demolished as the street and the buildings.

They sat in a crater, not a deep one -no more than half a meter in depth-, but one that spanned wide, reaching across the magic-flattened expanse. That crater was punched into existence as their last spells clashed with each other.

All in all, he was happy that he didn't have to pay for the damage they caused; he would be broke otherwise, or Fairy Tail would be, both were things he really wasn't looking forward to.

It had turned quieter now; the crying had stopped. Still, she hadn't tried to rip off his head so far- which is usually a good sign.

 

"Are you feeling a bit better now?" He looked down at the top of her head as he spoke. She let out a low grumble of distaste in reply, he guessed it was because he had showed pity and she took that as him thinking her weak. "I'll take that as a yes, at least, I think death threats mean you're feeling more…normal now-"

"Shut up!" Minerva shook her head to get his hand off her, angrily, making him draw his hand back lazily with a smirk.

"-I mean, thus far you've seemed to be in your best mood when you're voicing your dislike for me, so I guess it's right to assume that you're feeling better."

"Can't you just stop breathing?" she spat, looking up at him with a fierce glare.

"It's good to see how well you're taking the outcome of these games; acting all superior, as if you hated everyone and everything in your sight. A good game face, I must say," he grinned happily as he spoke while Minerva growled in frustration, "but now that this is over-"

"What kind of drugs are you on, lion?"

"Huh?"

"What drugs are you taking? It's like you're changing personalities in a split second! Do you have an idea how annoying that is?" By now Minerva had sat up and fixed the male with a hateful glower in his place. A beaming smile lit up the lion spirit's face and he smoothed a hand through his spiky hair, you could almost see a twinkle bounce from his white teeth.

"I've got a rather colourful personality, don't I?" he winked as he shrugged a shoulder and posed. Minerva's expression was less than impressed.

"An annoying personality, more like. When will you finally leave me alone?"

"When hell freezes over?"

"Cocky bastard!"

"You love me."

"Never!" she sputtered, indignantly, a look of horror and disgust on her face, curling her lip. Loke chuckled at the girl's behaviour. It was refreshing -refreshing, amusing, and entertaining. It wasn't often, after all, that a girl tried so hard to reject him, his friendship or otherwise, unless they were a member of his Guild - though, then his flirting was more for fun than anything else and they knew it.

 

Standing up in annoyance and threatening to stomp away, Minerva said "leave me alone, you dumb cat!"

"Dream on, my goddess," Loke matched her, rising too and sending her a smirk.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Nope," the lion said grinning at the annoyed woman, making her even more annoyed with him. She really couldn't stand him. He was infuriating. One minute he does everything to beat her in the fight, a second later he acted as if they were some kind of friends. A colourful personality, he said. Yeah, if it weren't beneath her she would have snorted. A colourful personality he had for sure; as colourful as a pit of mud and as annoying as a mosquito you just can never manage to swat.

What had she done to deserve being punished like this? An oversized kitty that just seemed incapable of leaving her alone, who knew it would be so insufferable! Seriously, what did she do to deserve this? She hadn't done anything wrong that she could see; she always had moved within the law and followed her father's rules. So why was she being punished with this annoying kitty cat? Why not someone else?

She glared at the spirit. It was his fault. If he hadn't shown up during the Navel Battle, she would have beaten the blonde mage and won! The people wouldn't have been so impressed that they changed the rules and let them have a tie. If it hadn't been for him, she would have defeated and eliminated the blonde, got the point for Sabertooth, and gone straight on to the next. She would have won! Sabertooth wouldn't have been ruined because their strongest mages lost against a stupid little kitten spirit, her guild's reputation been tarnished and it was his fault. If he hadn't showed up, her Guild wouldn't have been humiliated!

 

"It's your fault." The lion's grin disappeared, no that wasn't the right word; it didn't disappear, not fully at least. It changed, morphed, grew smaller, emptier, while he looked at her with an eyebrow raised in question. His demeanour changed, from a jolly goofball to serious, and the way he carried himself changed with it; his spine straightening, suddenly tense.

"Is that so? Funny, I don't seem to be able to recall something -anything- to justify how you can blame this on me. But maybe that's just me."

"If you hadn't shown up, Sabertooth wouldn't have been humiliated."

"If I hadn't shown up, you would have beaten Lucy into a bloody pulp, probably killing her because you don't seem to know any restraint. Then you would have been imprisoned, with an angry and pissed off Guild out for your blood. I would be a Master and friend shorter and would have broken some rather important promises. Tell me, what's worse now? That or this -what did you call it- humiliation? Dare I say the latter is the lesser evil of the two," the lion narrowed his eyes for a moment as he spoke.

"Dare I say that you are only staying here to piss me off!"

"Sheesh, no need to bite off my head, you know?" That was something that really didn't help to alleviate Minerva's foul mood. Actually, it did the exact opposite. She couldn't figure that kitty out, let alone predict what he'd do next or how he would react to something.

He enters a battle in a terrain he's weak in, uses himself as a shield for a celestial spirit mage -something most spirits didn't do, even less by their own free will and without being ordered to, as far as she knew.

He was a flirt, a womaniser, having a girl on each arm, but he didn't act like an arrogant fool about it the whole time; not in the way others did at least. He didn't start to disrespect women, something many a man with a repetition like his did. He didn't feel the need to rub it in everyone's faces what he was capable off, he just…he was just…he was just so damn confusing and that pissed her off.

 

Why couldn't he be as easy to understand as her father, as an example? With her father she knew what he was thinking, what his motives and his goals were, but this oversized kitty she was just incapable of understanding, she didn't understand a single thing about him! The second she thought she understood his way of thinking, he made a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn in the very next moment, shattering the image she had of him. If she could, at least, work out his ultimate motive, it would be easier to understand him, because she would finally get his currently unpredictable thought process.

No matter how much she asked herself what he was going to do, what his strategies were, it was simply no use. She would have fewer troubles understanding the secrets of the universe than him.

"Hey, now, come on. Don't look so grumpy; your face will end up sticking that way and you'll end up even grumpier if you don't try to have some fun from time to time and keep pushing everyone away who wants to get closer and get to know you."

"Oh, shut up and leave me alone!" growled Minerva as she spun on her heels before angrily storming away, feeling as is steam were about to flood out of her ears with the red-hot rage that had been building during their entire conversation.

 

"I mean it, Minerva," at his voice, the woman looked over her shoulder to glare at the lion who was looking at her, expression suddenly solemn. His hazel eyes gleamed behind his glasses, earnest and sincere, "don't push everyone away, don't push me away. I want to care for you."

Minerva felt his words as if they physically struck her and an indignant surge of anger rose up to twist at her heart, she spat out; "I don't need anyone caring for me!", ' _and certainly not you, obnoxious lion_ ' she added in her mind.

Loke watched the woman storm away, his expression unreadable.

"Liar." ' _you do need someone to care for you._ '

 

-{~"~}-

 

Both teams of Fairy Tail blinked, surprised, trying to process what just happened. Had Sting actually given up? Just like that?

Natsu was the first to pull himself out of his state of shock and back together. He stepped forward, directly in front of Sting, and looked down at him. A moment passed before a big grin broke out on his face and he held his hand out for the blond Dragon Slayer saying "Come on and get up, crawling in the dirt really doesn't suit anyone. You gotta be proud of yourself and your Guild."

Sting stared at the offered hand in disbelief. Did they…are they forgiving him and his Guild this quickly or are they just being friendly, or both? Were they willing to forget what his Guild did to them?

"Thanks," the blond mumbled as he took Natsu's hand and, with the help of the other Dragon Slayer, got to his feet again.

Natsu beamed at him again. "No problem, buddy. Now that these games over I think we can bury our disagreements.

"Yeah, I guess," Sting muttered, still astonished, unsure of what exactly he should say. After all, could all of that pandemonium and feuding between their Guilds really be described as a simple disagreement? They had been, to say it nicely, rather unfriendly to the Fairy Tail Guild. Then there was also the fact that Natsu basically broke into Sabertooth quarters to challenge their Master because he was pissed about how Yukino was thrown out of the Guild.

To call that a simple disagreement between them seemed a tad crazy to Sting. Maybe Lector could have seen some logic in this?

 

Lector. Thinking about his little exceed friend made something in Sting's chest ache painfully. As he gave up, as he let Fairy Tail win… The Lady said she would only give Lector back, after she had saved the little guy from her father, when he led Sabertooth to victory -which he didn't. He gave up, Sabertooth lost the games…he lost his little cat-like friend. It was really a damper on his mood.

It was eating him away from inside out, the regret of letting Lector down, the guilt of being responsible for his fate.

"Hey, there isn't a reason for you to look so grim, Sting. You guys fought really hard and well and you even managed to beat the other Guilds for second place. You should be happy about what you guys achieved," said the Celestial Spirit Mage Lucy, a cheerful smile curving her lips. She managed to hold her own in this round well, considering the first round - though it came out later that Raven Tail had cheated - and the Navel Battle, where she was saved by her spirit -Leo the Lion if he remembered rightly- force opening his own gate to help her. After the first round, many - if not all - considered her to be as much of a threat as a soft little bunny, but maybe they had to reconsider their view of the girl. While she undoubtedly wasn't one of the strongest compared to the rest of her team and other competitors in the games, the fact that she hadn't given up and was now standing here smiling told of another strength. One that was perhaps more valuable than others.

Still, she was wrong about why he was down. It wasn't because he got second place with his Guild, it was because he lost Lector, something that was way more important to him. He lost his friend. He sighed softly before he started to explain to the others what happened to Lector. It took a few minutes until he had finished explaining and at the end of his explanation, he looked up at shocked and concerned faces.

"You're sure that she would do that?" it was Erza who regained her composition first and turned to her teammates. "Which of you fought her? And where? If we hurry, we could still catch her and talk her into releasing Sting's exceed friend."

It took a moment before Lucy raised her hand, making the others look at her, surprised. "Uhm…I…uhm, it was Loke who fought her."

Erza raised an eyebrow, nodding in understanding, "Do you know where he fought her?" Lucy shook her head softly.

 

"Not exactly. I roughly know where they fought, but-" Lucy was interrupted by Natsu pumping his fist into the air and shouting: "Alright! I'm all fired up! Lead the way Luce!"

Lucy sighed while face-palming, "Natsuuu!" It was nothing new that the Dragon Slayer was only half listening. It was simply typical Natsu behaviour, and typical Natsu behaviour was always followed by a typical Lucy reaction.

"BAKA!" Lucy hit the pink-haired mage, "if you would let me finish talking I would have told you that Loke told me already that Minerva already left the area and that he went back into the Spirit world!"

Natsu stumbled down to the floor, his bottom hitting the ground, holding his now red and stinging cheek.

"You didn't have to hit me, Lucy, you're mean," he whined, rubbing at his cheek as if it would take away the pain.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "I am what now?"

"Uh-nothing," Natsu spluttered the words quickly to escape Lucy's wrath while shrinking under the blonde girl's glare.

"Good," Lucy nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"But then, what are we going to do about-" the ice mage was interrupted by a loud voice, calling out for Sting.

 

"Lector?!"

The Light Dragon Slayer whirled around to see the source of the voice. Tears of happiness filled his eyes as he saw the little red-brown furball racing towards him. He had thought he would never see his little exceed friend again. When Lector was only a few feet away from the Dragon Slayer, from his best friend, Sting bent down and opened his arms and the exceed leapt into the Dragon Slayer's hug.

"You're okay. You're okay," like an endless mantra, Sting mumbled it again and again. It seemed unreal to him, so unreal. He couldn't believe that Minerva simply let Lector go, even if he hadn't kept their part of the deal. Sure, he never thought the Lady would really do anything truly harmful to Lector, but he had feared how long Minerva would keep the exceed from him, maybe releasing him somewhere and making sure that Lector and Sting would never see each other again.

That she simply let the little furball go without further ado…

The members of Fairy Tail smiled while watching the scene before them, overjoyed for the two united friends.

 

-{~"~}-

 

She sighed softly. So, in the end, that person was right. That meant… She didn't want it to be true. Never had she wanted it to be true.

Now she had undeniable evidence and no other choice. She rose from her throne.

The Eclipse Plan had to begin now. It had to be finished before tonight and for that, she needed the twelve golden keys.

 

-{~"~}-

 

He wondered, he pondered about it. Why wasn't he leaving this city? He had followed the call from whatever had beckoned him here. He had followed it to the stadium, but he hadn't found the source there. Or had he? No. No, he hadn't, and had he left the stadium but… He couldn't bring himself to leave the city, to stray too far from the stadium. Whatever was drawing him there still called to him and it had a strong hold on him. It was this pull, this feeling, that summoned him and prevented him from leaving.

He leant against the wall of the dark and dirty little back alley in which he came to a stop. He was still clothed in the black cloak that just barely brushed over the ground, its hem now dripping from the brown mud drudged up from the ground and puddles, his hood still covering his head, face hidden by the shadow it cast. No one would recognise him. He could go and blend into the crowd, leaving the city. He could easily leave unnoticed by others. He would just be passed off as a spectator from the games or something but…

His lips twisted into a bitter smile.

He just couldn't bring himself to ignore this call.

This call of magic…

 

-{~"~}-

 

The Guild was happy, more than happy. They really did it! They won the Grand Magic Games! They had really triumphed and that had to be celebrated. The trophy stood at the bar counter, for all to see, shimmering in the lights of the bar.

Lucy watched her friends partying with a smile while sipping at the drink Mira gave her earlier. A few days ago, people laughed at them and called them weak, losers, and now… Now they had become the strongest Guild in Fiore again. There wasn't much that could ruin her good mood right now. She actually considered joining some of her Guildmates who were dancing on the tables, spreading the contents of their glasses on the wooden surface. Her emotions were so high she was even wondering if she should accept Cana's drinking challenge, even if she would be completely wasted tomorrow. Maybe she'd wait until a Guild brawl broke out, knowing Gray and Natsu that would happen at one point or another, and joining in for once?

Sure, it normally wasn't her thing, but she was in such a good mood she'd probably do just that. She was completely giddy from happiness. Tonight, nothing could ruin her mood. With that in mind, she threw her head back and emptied her glass in one big swig.

"Lucy?" Mirajane stood beside the blonde, a beaming smile on her face. "There's someone outside who wants to talk with you. She said it's important." Lucy blinked, surprised at the white-haired Take Over Mage. Someone waiting for her? At this time? That was unusual.

Well, if it really was important.

Lucy stood up and gave the barmaid her brightest smile. "Thanks, Mira, I'll be right back," with that being said, Lucy moved towards the door, squeezing through the dancing crowd and dodging a flying Elfman. It looked as if the brawl was just about to start.

 

The blonde giggled at her Guildmates' typical antics before she pushed the doors open and was greeted by a fresh evening breeze and a beautiful orange-washed sky. She closed her eyes and took a depth breath of the sweet air, letting the cooling breeze wash over her, brushing through her hair and tickling her nose. What a beautiful evening.

"Lucy-san." Lucy reopened her eyes at the familiar voice calling her. There, just a few feet away, stood Yukino, the former celestial spirit mage of Sabertooth, dressed in clothes that belonged to the royal soldiers. So far, Lucy hadn't had overly much to do with the light blue- haired girl that looked a bit similar to Lisanna, but she still viewed her as a friend. It didn't make Lucy less surprised at seeing Yukino here, though.

The last time Yukino came to her in the evening was after she had been thrown out of Sabertooth and wanted to give her keys to Lucy, voiding the contracts with her spirits. So… "What can I do for you Yukino?"

"Could you perhaps come with me? It's really important and easier to explain when I show you…"

The blonde Heartfilia Mage nodded.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"That I live to see the day where you willingly enter the library!" Hazel eyes looked up from the book that they had been studying intensively before, to the old man levitating in the air, legs crossed and a silver cross as a head with a smile that only a grandfather could wear.

"Grandpa Crux," with a sheepish smile he placed the book back on the shelf, "don't say something like that; someone could hear you. I've got a reputation to uphold, you know? One-"

"One that says you'll never enter a library willingly and rather bite off your own arms and legs than visiting here."

"Exactly. Wouldn't want me to lose the only positive reputation I've got, would you?" Loke said, scratching the back of his head.

Crux chuckled, his head moving from right to left in a head-shake. "You younglings, only you could view it as a bad thing. Well, tell me what you're looking for, so you don't have to worry about your reputation getting ruined by being here too long."

Loke pouted slightly at been seen through so easily, as if he were so very predictable - he prided himself on being spontaneous and aloof, thank you very much. "What told you I was looking for something specific?"

Crux chuckled again at the -in his words- youngling. "Leo, I've been around for quite some time now and long enough to have seen you when you were a little cub." The Zodiac leader raised an eyebrow at the old cross headed spirit as he continued, "you rarely enter here unless you're forced to, or searching for something. So what is it that you want to know?"

"This is for my reputation sake, as you called it, huh?" The lion grinned at the old spirit's chuckle.

"Maybe I could also use a helping hand down in the public area," admitted the cross spirit with a wry smile and a shrug.

"Oh? Don't tell me that someone's giving you trouble down there?"

"Unfortunately… Ophiuchus came earlier in search of a few books about poison magic and had a run in with Pavonis a few moments ago." Crux didn't need to say anymore as the lion was already marching into the direction of the public area of the great library of the celestial world; the royal library. It would have been sufficient enough if Crux had only told him the names, not even mentioning their run in. He knew well enough what would happen when those two were in the same place at the same time if no one interfered in time.

 

Pavonis belonged to the peacock constellation clan, a tad older than the Zodiac leader himself and annoying on a good day -he was an absolute menace and pain in the ass on a bad one. He was someone who loved to antagonise those he believed were beneath him, most of all Ophiuchus for what his ancestors did. For this reason, things tended to get troublesome at best when those two ran into each other, with Ophiuchus's short temper and possession of a rather trigger-happy personality…

Things escalated quickly and with volatility when those two meet, and if Crux had already came to fetch him…

His search could wait.

 

"What did you say, scumbag?!"

 

Great, Ophiuchus's short fuse had been ignited.

The lion had just turned around the corner of a bookshelf and, for a short second, he wondered if maybe he should just walk away, ignoring it for once. If it weren't for Grandpa Crux asking for his help, perhaps he would have done so, just this once. Though, thinking about the aftermath of these arguments, probably not.

 

"What's going on this time?" The lion spirit gave a sigh as he went to separate the two. Ophiuchus had grabbed Pavonis by the collar and was holding him forcefully against a bookshelf, his free hand ready to strike and clouded in a purple mist. Pavonis tried desperately to free himself, clawing at Ophiuchus's hand, and his legs, dangling in the air, were trying to kick the aggressive snake spirit.

"…Leo…"

"Sire!"

Both heads turned to the lion. One looking at him with a raised eyebrow and, as his earlier anger was not directed at the lion, a calm demeanour, while the other looked, somehow, both panicked and relieved simultaneously at seeing the zodiac leader.

"Do you two always have to try and rip each others throats out whenever you have a run in with each other? Seriously, think about the troubles you give others."

"Sire! This... this monster just attacked me! You have to talk to the King to have him thrown in jail! He's a danger to all, just like his ancestors! He's just like them!" cried Pavonis, pointing an accusatory finger in the direction of the snake spirit, who had been standing with his arms crossed to withhold himself. At his antagonist's words, however, his hand once again lit up with a violet shroud.

"I am not like those bastards!"

"Ophiuchus!" A few centimetres before Pavonis's face the snake's magic-swathed hand stopped, his arm being held in a tight grip by the lion. "That is enough! Calm yourself, now."

"Shut up Leo and let me go, I'm gonna rip this bastard into pieces!"

"If you do that, you're no better than they are. Don't give others a reason to compare you to those you despise so much. You're better than them, aren't you?" The snake spirit glared at the orange-haired spirit.

Leo was very much aware that Ophiuchus was better than those criminals, and how much he despised being compared to them, to be reminded of them at all. Them, who brought their once respected house and clan down.

Their once-respected name was thrown into the mud, trampled and left there to rot. They, who committed probably the worse crime in all of Celestial history. Even now, centuries later, he -the last descendent of those bastards- had to suffer from it.

But…

"Enough, Ophiuchus. Let him go. Now."

"Screw you, cat," Ophiuchus sighed and let his hand sink, cancelling his poison magic, reluctance threaded through his voice. Relief flooded onto Pavonis's face as the hand retreated before he was pulled, again, by his collar and thrown aside into a bookshelf.

"Be fucking happy that Leo's too freaking nice to let me kill you. Get lost!" Ophiuchus growled.

"I'll take care of this, Pavonis. You can go, don't worry." At Leo's calming words and Ophiuchus's threatening words, the other spirit scrambled to get back on his feet and fled the scene of crime without so much as a backwards glance.

 

After the spirit of the peacock constellation disappeared from sight and out of his hearing range, Leo sighed again and let go of Ophiuchus's arm.

The snake spirit scowled at him and crossed his arms over his chest. "You had to come and interfere with business that doesn't concern you."

"Ah, but Oro, you know it concerns me very much if a friend is in trouble."

"First of don't call me by this disgusting nickname you insisted on giving me. Second I was in no trouble!"

"Oh, and third?"

"Shut up, cat."

Loke chuckled at his snake-spirit friend before he looked into the direction that Pavonis had disappeared in.

"You really shouldn't let yourself be bothered by that guy. Just last week he was talking about me not being a real celestial spirit because my grandfather was human and how I shouldn't have been pardoned for murdering my Master, and just now he would have kissed the ground I walk on."

The snake gave harsh laugh at the lion's words.

Oh, he knew very well that there was malicious gossip about the young lion. About how he had killed his Master, even if the investigations that were made only after he had been pardoned showed that he was, in fact, innocent. He may have kept his former Master from summoning other spirits, but he did it to protect his fellow comrades, and told this vile woman about what he did. She left on a mission, knowing that she couldn't summon a spirit and died. It was unfortunate event, a series of unforeseeable situations that culminated in that woman's death, but there was nothing the lion could be held responsible for.

And as for that thing about his grandfather having been a human, well he had only one thing to say to that: screw those people holding it against him; it wasn't uncommon that a celestial spirit had a human somewhere in their family tree.

 

A croaky voice sounded from behind Loke's shoulder, "I see you managed to prevent the catastrophe from happening Leo. Thank you very much and sorry for troubling you with this."

"Ah, Grandpa Crux, it's nothing. And it's no problem at all; you've got nothing to apologise for. If anything, this snake here should be begging for forgiveness on his knees for the troubles he caused you."

"As if I'd ever do something like that!"

The old spirit looked at the two younglings with an amused chuckle. A good hundred Earthland years ago, this would have led to some worries and gossip about the Snake, descendant of one of the worst - if not the worst - criminals that ever existed in their world, and the young lion, the leader of the next generation of zodiacs and bearer of the light of the king. It would have concerned the gossiping spirits that the two were unlikely friends, but now it was nothing out of the ordinary anymore, at least for most.

"Say, you two younglings, what do you think about having a cup of tea with me? Leo, I got an excellent new milk tea and Ophiuchus, for you I have this wonderful new tea made of Wolfsbane, just perfect for your taste, I believe. I can't try it, unfortunately - it's poison, you know."

The two 'younglings' looked at each other before grinning and giving the old spirit a nod. "Sure, we loved to Grandpa."

Crux chuckled and turned around, floating forward through the corridors surrounded by bookshelves, the lion and the snake following behind him.

 

"By the way, cat, how come you managed to get there so fast? Did your cat-instincts tingle, telling you I was close to killing that shitty bastard?"

"Nah, I was in the library, on the higher levels, searching for something," answered the lion before turning to the old cross, "by the way, Grandpa, maybe you could help me with what I've been looking for?"

"Of course, I already told you I'd help you and you do know that both of you can come to me whenever you want. Makes an old spirit feel less lonely."

"But Grandpa, you have how many grand- and great-grandchildren? One or two hundred? I doubt that you ever have much free time and solitude."

"That's maybe so, Ophiuchus, but that doesn't stop me from feeling lonely from time to time. Most of them are contracted to Celestial Spirit Mages all over Earthland. They're all rather busy, too busy to visit their old Grandfather."

"You aren't that old, Grandpa, just probably the oldest Celestial Spirit in existence," laughed Ophiuchus with a smirk.

"You are a brat Ophiuchus, a real brat."

"Thanks, I know. Either way, cat, what were you looking for?" The snake had turned his attention from the cross levitating in front of him back to the lion walking next to him.

"I was searching for a kind of list, table or book, something that had listed how long Celestial Spirit Mages usually needed to learn a Celestial spell."

"So you managed to convince the old man to allow you to teach your Master Celestial Magic?"

 

Leo nodded at Ophiuchus's question. It wasn't a secret to the snake that the lion had discussed this topic for months with the King himself. It was quite troublesome and painstaking to convince the King because of what happened with the last Celestial Mage who learned Celestial Magic.

Of course, not many humans knew that they didn't know true Celestial Magic. Celestial Magic was more than just summoning Spirits, after all, but that was something most humans didn't pay attention to. For them, being able to summon a Celestial Spirit was all there was to Celestial Magic, was all they thought they needed. Well, maybe that was a good thing since there were some celestial spells that could kill a human if they used it.

So Leo had needed a long time to convince the King. Why bring something back to the humans when they had long forgotten it? When they would only become greedy for more of their Magic and end up killing themselves with it, why bring it back?

"I see. Unfortunately, you won't find such a list; it was never written down. I believe you already started to train the Miss? " Crux looked at Leo in question.

"Yes, I did. Because of the circumstances, it was more of a crash-course training today. Small spells, tactics and moves that would end up helping in the last round of the Grand Magic Games."

"And you're worried about her learning process?"

The lion stayed silent at the old spirit's question even though the old spirit wasn't wrong; Leo was actually concerned with Lucy's learning process, but the reason why was not the reason that Crux thought.

"I wouldn't worry too much Leo. Considering the Miss's magical power and her high affinity for Celestial Magic she so obviously has, she should, as far as I can tell, be able to learn one to use correctly if weak and maybe one or two more, in the most basic ways. Those would only be effective if she uses her surroundings the right way though. Like using a blending spell during an explosion to hide. But that is the maximum I would imagine her capable of."

 

"…No…."

"What?"

Leo sighed as he repeated himself. "No…Hime managed double what you thought to be her maximum…"

Ophiuchus's eyes widened at the lion spirit's words. "The double of…? Leo, I may not be as well-versed in these things as Grandpa, but even I have enough knowledge to know that Crux's speculation of your Master's maximum capacity is an overestimate because he likes her! And you say she's capable of double that?"

"I know that!" The zodiac hissed and glared slightly at his snake spirit friend, unhappy with having it pointed out to him by the snake. He felt uncomfortable about being reminded how unusually fast Lucy was learning Celestial Magic. It wasn't normal. "I know that she shouldn't be able to learn it this quickly! I know that it shouldn't even be possible! Especially as today was the first time she used it! Her body shouldn't have been able to adapt to our magic like this! She's human!"

 

Yes, Lucy was human, her body was human, so she shouldn't be able to use Celestial Magic like this so easily and so quickly. Just as humans are unable to survive in the Celestial Spirit World under normal circumstances, and possessing Celestial clothes wasn't something people usually did, they also couldn't use celestial magic without proper training. Their body had to get used to this foreign and unfamiliar magic, more so than when someone went and bought regular magic in a magic store. It was a similar process to how Dragon Slayers had to train and get used to their magic if they didn't want their body to be completely consumed by it.

That was what he had been the most worried about when he decided to train Lucy in Celestial Magic. It was the argument that the King brought forth and had troubled him the most.

There was this small, slim possibility that they made a mistake.

That they went too quick about it.

That they used too powerful spells too fast.

That they didn't give her body and her magic enough time to adjust.

That she would end up consumed by her own magic. Killed by it.

It only happened in very rare cases, and he had planned the whole training regime long enough. He had more than one backup plan, so even if they had to go about it differently because of time constraints, like today, he had a plan. He had the plan looked through by Capricorn and the King, worked together with those two until the King had deemed it safe, if he went by that plan, and allowed him to train Lucy.

So the likelihood that the worst case possibility happened was practically zero. He still worried, though, and after what he saw today -how quickly Lucy learned- he was troubled by it.

"Leo, do you think that the Miss maybe isn't human?"

"No, no I do believe that she is human just…" the lion sighed and ran his hand through his mane of hair, frustrated.

 

He was exasperated by this situation. It wasn't that Lucy's fast learning ability that bothered him; he knew from the beginning that his master would have no problem with the theory. It was that she was capable of the practical part so soon... when she shouldn't be able to physically.  
He hadn't told Lucy about it, he even ordered Capricorn to keep quiet about it so he had time to do some research before he went to the King.

Crux looked at the frustrated youngling, before closing his eyes. His mind raced through every single piece of information he had stored there, trying to find something to help, to explain how it could be. From hundreds and thousands unlikely possibilities…

The old cross's eyes snapped open as one of the most likely possibilities crossed his mind.

"You think that she's…"

"Yes," Leo nodded with a sigh, "yes I think it is most likely that she is-"

 

He stopped in mid-sentence, cut off by a cold shiver that ran down his back. Cold and frightening. It started as a freezing prickling running down his back but expanded over his whole body. He felt cold, his entire body trembled with the stabbing of ice-cold needles.

A look at Crux confirmed that the Southern Cross spirit felt the same sensation as he did. This feeling every Celestial Spirit knew of but hoped never to get. This feeling that made every alarm bell in a Spirit's head ring.

This feeling that a Spirit only felt when something was wrong with their contract partner in Earthland – their Master. Not just a cut or something like that but that they were, for whatever reason, incapable of using magic to defend themselves.

A hissing snarl from Ophiuchus, the snakes eyes glowing with a dangerous fire in them. "What shit has that bitch gotten herself into now?!" The snake had felt the same. His Master was in danger too, and he was worried, wanted to summon himself to Earthland right away and destroy whatever had put his Master into danger before snarling at her like an angry snake, insulting her and doing everything to cover up that he cared.

The lion, though, didn't pay much attention to any commotion happening him, he had only needed a second to confirm that Crux had felt the same thing as he and he only registered the snake's angry snarling and hissing at the back of his mind.

 

' _Lucy, hold on, I'm coming._ ' He closed his eyes, concentrating hard on his connection to the blonde mage that saved his life and the link to his key. It was harder than usual; he could barely feel either of them.

Just what happened?! What could block his connection to both like this? He never had heard such a thing.

There!

He found her, got a hold of her magic. ' _Lucy._ '

Leo started to shimmer, being encased in gold light, slower than when he forced his gate open on his own usually.

He was passing through now. If one could see him through the light that was wrapped around him, they would see that he was already translucent and half way to see-through, half way through his gate.

And then…

 

Thousands of small blades tore through his skin into his body.

A deep coldness took hold of his heart.

He felt darkness envelop him.

And the next thing he knew…

It shattered; the light that encased him shattered like glass.

He was thrown, hurtling back into the Celestial Spirit World.

His gate forcefully shut by an outside force. A force that was not Lucy.

He bent over double with a shaking gasp, blinking the remains of a mess of unfinished golden lights from his eyes. A hand over his heart, clenching at the white clothes that covered his chest where he could feel himself trembling and his heart pounding.

What was that?

Why couldn't he pass through his gate to Earthland?

What blocked him?

Panic. Panic got a hold of him. Lucy was in danger. She couldn't defend herself for some reason and he…he…

 

"Leo!"

A slap brought the orange-haired spirit back into this reality. He looked directly in a pair of poison-green eyes. Ophiuchus had slapped him to snap him out of his panic attack.

"I, I can't pass through the gate. Something's blocking me."

He…he couldn't?! Leo the Lion, leader of the twelve zodiacs, second in power only to the Celestial King himself couldn't pass through the gate? Leo to whom passing between the Celestial Spirit World and Earthland was like walking through the door to his room, the palace, the library or a door to any room, couldn't pass through?

Ophiuchus cursed under his breath. If Leo couldn't, he didn't even have to try. Leo was better at passing through the gate on his own than him. Ophiuchus barely managed to do it when he was at full power and had time to do so.

Loke drew a shaky breath and tried to calm himself. Telling himself silently that he had to calm down; he was the leader of the zodiacs after all and even in a situation like this he had to keep a calm head. Especially in a situation like this.

He uncurled his now-aching hand and let go of his shirt that he had held in a death-grip of a clutch. Another shaky breath and the lion straightened his back. Standing straight again he looked at his company.

"Crux, please check on all of hime's spirits, calm them down and tell them not to worry, we'll…take care of it somehow…Ophiuchus, please do the same with your Master's spirits. I'll run to the gate chamber to check with the rest of the zodiacs, and I'll give a call to the Guild and tell them something's wrong with Hime. They also know your Master, so they'll check on her too."

Leo didn't wait for an answer as he started to sprint down the halls of the library.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Slowly.

Slowly she woke up.

Darkness surrounding her, enveloping her.

How long had it been? Too long to remember. Too much time had passed to remember.

The darkness surrounded her on all sides. Wrapped and coiled itself around her. Filled her very being.

She inhaled it, breathed it. This darkness. Running through every fibre of her being.

Darkness was every part of her. Every blood cell. Every atom. Everything.

Her consciousness was still drowned. So far out of her reach. Still sealed away. She was only just starting to wake up.

But what?

What woke her up?

If she were to be fully awake, or just a little bit more awake. She would have already figured it out. Figured out what awoke her from her endless slumber. Her cursed slumber.

Something flickered. A light. So far, far away.

 

She raised a weak, bony arm. How damaged she was now. Only a shell was left. Nothing to remind of her former beauty. Her skin stretched over her bones like old ragged leather. Pale and ugly. She silently cursed her own weakness.

She raised her arm further. Holding her open palm out to the small light in the distance.

What a pitiful little light. Poor little thing. It dared to enter her realm. Dared to mock her state of weakness. Dared to try and fight its way through her endless darkness.

Her lips stretched into a monstrous grin. Evil and sadistic. A grin that used to frighten everyone who saw it once upon a time before she was cursed to this pitiful existence.

The darkness moved in front of her palm. Twisting and writhing.

The light shone unaware of the danger it was in.

Oh, how she hated the light. She hated it with such a passion. This pitiful thing called light that dared to stand against her.

She crushed it. Crushed it with her unstoppable, unbeatable darkness.

 

How beautiful. Its laughable attempts to fight the darkness off. The inevitable end it was to face. The darkness swallowed it. Consumed it and destroyed it.

A hollow laugh escaped her throat, flowed through the darkness. Echoed and and rebounded, sounding hollower and hollower. This cruel, unforgiving, evil laugh.

Her arm sank back to rest beside her. She hated the light.

She would destroy it.

She would destroy every and any light there is so only her darkness would be left.

And while she was already at it, she would fulfil her hunger for revenge.

She would not only destroy the light. No, she would destroy those twelve.

Destroy them. Kill them. Break them.

Those twelve who dared to stop her.

Those twelve who dared to seal her away in an eternal slumber.

She would…

But not now.

She was still so, so weak.

She needed to regain more strength and then find a way to free herself.

Then she would rip them apart. Those twelve who dared to deny her regime of endless darkness, who dared to stop her darkness with their light.

For now, she had to wait. Patience. The last time she woke up she was careless. Granting the one who broke the barrier that kept her consciousness away from her an endless life in darkness as a sign of her gratitude had taken so, so much of her.

She wouldn't make the same mistake.

She would rest for now.

Until she was stronger.

Then…

 

-{~"~}-

 

Water dripped from the ceiling into the flat bowl. Ripple after ripple, with every new drop of water a new ripple was created. Small circular waves oscillating out from the source, the point where the drop hits the still water's surface and, from there, spreading further and further away from it's beginning. An unstoppable loop, circuit, a chain of events. She watched them, face hidden by the hood of her long, tattered cloak. Through the open front of the cloak, the fine midnight-blue gown the woman wore was just visible, her arms decorated with golden bracelets.

She watched the small ripples and sighed. Oh, how she feared what was brewing together there on the horizon.

But there wasn't anything she could do. Not anymore. She had already played her card, hadn't she? From where she was now, she couldn't do anything. She sighed and raised her head, looking at the ceiling.

"Oh please, Aslan, watch over them. I'm begging you to protect them…you wouldn't want anything to happen to them either, would you? They're your children too…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, now we're walking in big steps towards...well I think you guys can guess^^
> 
> So far I kept rather close to the original arcs, close as in I keep to the rough outline of events. I do plan to keep the rough outline of some other events too, but only the outline.
> 
> There already a few things set up now for future events let's see where they will lead us, huh?
> 
> To Ophiuchus's gender. Yes, yes I know in the anime in his Eclipse form he's female but I always thought of Ophiuchus as a guy not a girl for whatever reason I'm not sure, soooo... in is normal form he's a guy.
> 
> That was all I had to say, I think.
> 
> Thanks to my Beta Rainiebug (Fanfiction.net name)  
> Until next time


	6. Chapter 6

"I am sorry Lucy-san. This isn't how it was supposed to go…"

The pale haired of the two Celestial Spirit Mage sat on the cold floor of the cell both girls had been thrown into. Her legs pulled towards her, arms wrapped around them and head resting on her knees. She really was sorry for what happened, about them landing in a cell and blamed herself for it. She had brought Lucy to the Eclipse Gate and told her about the Eclipse plan so that they could get her help. That they would get thrown into a cell like criminals was not part of the plan.

Yukino wasn't sure just where exactly it went wrong. She had only followed the orders of Arcadios. They wanted to use the Gate to destroy Zeref, to remove him from history but… As they told Lucy Darton showed up. He was against the plan, said it was too dangerous, he had Lucy and herself thrown into a cell, what happened to Arcadios she didn't know. And now they were sitting here until tomorrow at least, to ensure that they would not go and open the Eclipse Gate, their keys taken from them.

 

"It's not your fault Yukino. I'm sure we'll be out of here in no time. Don't worry about it, you did nothing wrong."

Lucy gave the white-haired girl a big smile, trying to reassure her that everything would be all right, but inwardly she wasn't so sure. Her keys were taken from her, and without her keys, she felt weak. Without her keys, she couldn't call her spirits. Without her spirits, she couldn't break out of here. Even if she started to learn new spells and different ways to fight, there was a snowball chance in hell that what she learned so far was enough to break them out and not let them be caught again right away. If she had her spirits, she could use Taurus to destroy the bars or have Virgo make a tunnel for them to escape.

But her keys had been taken from her.

As they were taken in they had taken her keys, she had tried to summon a spirit, but it didn't work in close proximity to the gate, it absorbed her magic. She had the hope that one of her spirits would force open their own gate as the keys had been taken from her, but that didn't happen either. Maybe the Eclipse Gate also absorbed the magic they used to force open their respective gates.

There wasn't much Lucy could do now besides submitting to the situation and hoping that they could get out someway, while trying to cheer up Yukino, keeping her out of a depression. If the keys were out of the Eclipse Gate's reach, her spirits could force open their gates again and come to her aid, right? Or at least alert the Guild?

 

"Aye, Lucy! Yukino!"

 

Great, now she already imagined the voice of her Guildmates, the first sign of madness. She wasn't long enough in this cell to turn mad, was she? Maybe she had already been here for days or weeks without noticing it? Maybe she already turned mad and didn't notice time passing anymore?

"Luce! Ey, come on wake up!"

Against her will Lucy raised her head, having rest on her arms while she laid on the cell bed. Her eyes moved to the cell bars and widen. Standing there, with that big goofy grin on his face stood Natsu and behind him Mirajane, Wendy and a flying Happy.

 

"Natsu! Mira! Wendy! Happy! What are you doing here?" She jumped from the bed and raced the few steps from the bed to the bars that separated her from her friends. Hope flared up in her chest. When her friends were really here, they would get out of here, which was as sure as Gray stripping.

"Loke contacted the Master through a communication Lacrima the Master had given Loke some time ago and that he took with him to the Celestial world. He told us that something had happened to you, but he couldn't reach you for some reasons. The Master had sent us three to find and bring you back. More would have come but…for some reasons the King called all mages to him." At Mira's explanation, Lucy's eyes widen slightly in surprise, but she smiled. So her guess was right, the Eclipse Gate did hinder her spirits summoning themselves. But for what did the King called for all mages? Did something happen?

"Think later, for now, its action time. We get you two out of there Luce, take a step back."

Lucy did as Natsu told her, taking a few safety steps back as Natsu ordered, just like Yukino, as Natsu grabbed two iron bars with his bare hands.

 

Now iron was a good material to build bars for cells, unless one of the inmates, or one of the people trying to break said inmates out, was a fire mage, or a fire Dragon Slayer. The bars didn't stand a chance against the heat that emitted from the Dragon Slayers hands, slowly crawling up and down the whole length of the metal, making it as elastic as gum and easy to bend. This Natsu demonstrated by bending the bars, to create a space through that Lucy and Yukino could slip out. Careful both girls slipped out, careful not to touch the still glowing hot iron bars.

It didn't took long until all five mages, plus Happy, stood outside of the cell.

"Thank you guys. I don't know what we would have done if you didn't came by."

"No problem Lucy, but say just what did you two do that lent you in a cell?"

"We were completely unjust imprisoned! Can you believe that we-"

Lucy's rant about their imprisonment – brought about by the innocent question of Wendy – was cut short. The ground that they stood on, just outside of the cell Lucy and Yukino had been imprisoned in, gave a slight shake, the only forewarning that the mages got. The brown tiles moved, leaving the five humans and one cat standing over a dark hole. They didn't even register what happened as they were already falling down.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Hisui sighed as she entered her room. She had sent the mages to the place with no return. But it was the only choice. Otherwise, they would have hindered the Eclipse Plan Two and that she couldn't let happen, she just couldn't. For the shake of the kingdom, she had to get her act together and make the Eclipse Plan Two happen. But, silently she prayed that Arcadios and those mages would be okay. She prayed that after this was over, the kingdom saved, that they could go get them out of that place, alive.

Hisui looked at the commode to her right. There on top laid the twelve golden keys of the zodiacs and the other silver keys that belonged to the two Celestial Spirit mages. She already used the zodiac keys to unlock the Eclipse Gate so it could be open by human hand. Another reason why those mages had to survive, and they had to get them out of there later. She had to give them back their keys. She didn't deserve to hold them, they belonged to those two girls, and for those sins Hisui did, she didn't deserve to hold those keys, she didn't even deserve to call herself a Celestial Spirit mage, in her eyes, even if she did it for her kingdom.

With a sigh, she took the few steps to her commode. The keys laid under a see-through globe. That globe was made of magic absorbing material. It was a safety measure. Darton had insisted that she'd do this. At least one of Lucy Heartfilia's spirits had shown the ability to force open his own gate. If he would force open his own gate and see his key being in her possession instead of the girl he had a contract with. Darton said better safer than sorry.

But with what happened now. That the mages were down there in that place. That Arcadios was down there in that place and that the Garou Knights had already moved to execute them…

If it would raise the chance of their survival…

 

Without a second thought, Hisui reached for the globe and raised it, moving it aways from the keys. The reaction was instantly. The moment the globe was away from the keys and didn't absorbed the magic anymore, it didn't hinder spirits anymore to manifest in this world.

The lion key glowed golden and an instant later the lion spirit himself appeared. Leo the Lion. His hand sprang forward and closed around Hisui's neck. Hazel eyes were glowing golden in anger. Hair that was usual rather tamed for a lion's mane was wild and untamed. Human shaped hands were spiked with sharp claws. Teeth were turning into fangs.

The globe shattered on the floor of Hisui's room.

 

 

"And now you tell me: Where. Is. Lucy!"

 

-{~"~}-

 

"What happened?"

Thirteen heads jerked around as the Celestial Spirit King came into the gate chamber. His form as gigantic as ever, the dark colored cape flying behind him. Even the smile usual glued to his face was replaced by a serious expression.

"We don't know. Our keys were taken from the mages we're contracted to, they didn't give them away willingly. Hime had tried to summon Capricorn, according to him, but something had halfway through the summon pulled the magic away, rendering it useless. Something similar had happened to me as I tried to summon myself to Earthland, I only managed it halfway before the magic I used for it was pulled away. Since that happen, I tried to force my own gate open a good thirty or more times, always the same result in the end, through I believe whatever blocking us had changed in between."

 

The Celestial King gave a nod at the Zodiac leader's report and took a look at him. He started to show slight signs of magical exhaustion. It wasn't easy for a Celestial Spirit to get a magical exhaustion while being in the Celestial Spirit world, it was commonly even believed to be impossible. But forcing one's own gate open did take a lot of magic out of a spirit and trying so multiple times, and failing did too. Usual failing did less because the spirit managed to reabsorb some of his or her's magic, but in this case, it looked like the magic was forcefully ripped away from the spirit. So the spirit lost the whole magic it would have needed to successfully pulling a force opening of their gates.

If the spirit tried this just one or two times and would then rest, he wouldn't get exhausted, and the nature of spirits and their world would have him fully recharged his magic within minutes. Trying it as many times as the lion did, with or without a break, was a sure way to get into a magical exhaustion if it didn't kill one right away, even if the spirit was as used to travelling between the worlds as Leo was. It was a sign of the great power and magic reserves the zodiac leader had, that he was still standing and not already being prepared for his burial.

"Take a moment rest. While you do that, please explain to me what else you did, besides trying to summon yourself to your key or Miss Lucy, Leo."

The Celestial King could see how the lion spirit bit the inside of his cheek before he answered.

"Understood, your highness." The King knew that Leo kept himself from making an unprofessional and out of place remark. While they were talking to each other about business and in their official duties with each other and kept to that, they could work with each other just fine. Should their tone or topic change to a more personal thing the lion would block and push him away right away. Leo thought he was a splendid King and did his best, but on a personal note, Leo detested him. The King knew it and tried his best to always keep things on a professional level between them, only really interacting with each other when it came to their duties. He wasn't sure though if maybe that decision hadn't made things worse between them.

"After my first try failed, I had sent Crux to all of Hime's spirits, ordering him to tell them that everything was alright and that they shouldn't panic, a panic under the spirits is the last thing we need right now. The same thing I ordered Ophiuchus to do. I meanwhile made my way to the gate chamber, on the way I made a detour to my chambers. I had a communication Lacrima there that would directly contact Master Makarov. I did contact him and told him something had happened to Hime and the other Miss, that holds the other zodiac keys. They could and would search for Hime in Earthland and help her, while we figure out what was going on and find a way so at least I could reach Earthland and assist them.

 

After the call, I directly went to the gate chamber meeting up with the rest. Here Capricorn informed me of Hime's failed attempt to summon him. We tried to use the physical gate to enter Earthland but to no use. I also tried to summon myself to other places in Earthland that I knew and could easily reach, the same thing for other members of the Guild, no luck so far.

Also retrying summoning myself to my key or to Hime didn't work.

During those tries, I noted how what was blocking me changed. The first time I felt like I was being crushed by some kind of magic, leading to my magic scattering and being lost. After that I felt as if my magic was being pulled into a river of magic, away from me and then up until now, I make it halfway and then my magic gets dismantled and is lost."

The Celestial Spirt King nodded at the lion's report. The first try he described was unusual, as was the second. The third though sounded as if…

"Responsible for the third is a magic-absorbing material?"

"We think so."

Capricorn, level headed as always, was the one to answer the King this time. The goat spirit was the calmest, and oldest of this generation zodiacs, being good some hundred Earthland years older than the rest. He also belonged to the King's own Generation, as such, he was more experienced as the other zodiacs, also because he already was part of the previous generation of zodiacs. Not having an heir that could take over his post at the time this generation took over he decided to continue his duties until he had an heir fit to take over his post.

Silently the King had thought at that time as this generation took over that it was good to have such an old timer with them. The new generation had been young, younger than usual, but fate had forced their hand, and the titles had to be passed down to the next, albeit really young, generation.

"Has anyone else tried to open their gate beside Leo?"

Twelve heads from left to right, a clear sign meaning no. Capricorn was the one who formulated their reasoning.

 

"Sir Leo is from all of us the one most experienced in travelling between the worlds on his own. If he can not pass through, chances that we can are slim, not to say none existing. So we tried to find a way so he could pass through to Earthland. We all had agreed on that it would be the best course of action with having the most likely results."

"I see." The King gave a nod at the explanation. It was the best course of action. Moving his head to the side slightly he again fixed his eyes on the zodiac leader.

"Leo, have your magic reserved regenerated enough in the last minutes to give open the physical gates another try? With me aiding you?"

"If that is the King's order."

"Leo, I will not give such an order when I don't know for sure that you feel that you're up to it."

.

.

.

"Of course. I believe I rested enough and should be ready for another try."

The King gave a nod at the lion's words. Both the lion and the Kind walked towards one of the golden gate with the lion symbol above it.

A long time ago these gates were used by spirits to travel to earthland without their contracted partner summoning them, but over time spirits who did this became less and less. Now there were either the ones that were too weak to reach earthland fully on their own without their partner summoning them, or they were like the zodiac leader, capable of opening his gate where ever he stood and not needing to use these to open the pathway to earthland. These physical gates fell into being forgotten by most, became unneeded. But right now, they were needed. Needed to open the path to earthland for them.

The King and Leo stood in front of the lion's gate, both having a hand on either side of the gate doors. A soft, barely noticeable tingle shoot through their skin as they touched the golden doors as the gate awoke to live.

It gave a golden light emitted from the gate as the two spirits pushed their magic into it. It wasn't enough though. The gate wouldn't move even just the slightest bit.

 

The used magic material that had to be around the keys in earthland had to be of amazingly high quality. Silently the King applauded whoever took the keys from the two celestial spirit mages, they sure knew how to ensure that they couldn't come to the girls' aid. Not that it would stop them much longer. Forcing more magic into the gate, forcing it to open the path to earthland for the lion, the two spirits pressed harder against the gates. A whirlwind of magical energy started to form around their feet, slowly raising, softly glowing like the stars at night.

Had using the physical gates ever cost so much magic? The King mused silently about it. At least not as far as he could recall, not in his lifetime at least.

 

Slowly, way too slowly for the spirits liking, they got some process. The gate cracked open, golden light poured out of it, spreading over the floor at their feet. The crack wasn't much, one could barely get a peek at the golden path that laid behind the gate and led directly to the key linked to said gate. Slowly and with much effort on Leo and the King's side, they managed to push the gate open, far enough that some without an overly large form could squeeze through. The whirlwind had increased by now, angrily tossing the King's dark cape through the air and nearly blending the other Spirits with its bright light.

"We can't keep this up much longer, I have to go through now." The lion growled out, fighting against whatever invisible force tried to push him back and closing the gate again.

The King gave a nod, which couldn't be seen by the lion standing in front of him, face turned to the gate.

"Understood. On three."

 

"One-" The King pushed harder against the gate, more of his magical energy into it to force it to stay open. He knew that once Leo let go to jump, squeeze himself through the gate, he had to hold it open by himself at least until the lion was safely through.

 

"Two-" Repositioning his feet Leo prepared for his jump.

 

"Three!" The lion threw himself forward, through the open gate and onto the golden pathway shimmering in front of him. It wasn't a graceful jump, but it did its job, and the lion landed, just as ungraceful as his jump, on the golden pathway, swaying and fighting to stay on his feet.

He barely managed to regain his composure as he heard the gate snap shut behind him with a loud thud.

 

"Just great." The lion growled out between clenched teeth. Did he break a mirror or something? He seemed to have the worst of luck today. Even so, he didn't had the time to stand around, wondering just why he apparently had such bad luck right now. With horror, he registered that the golden pathway, that started at the closed gate and would lead directly to his key began to break, crumbling into nothing more than light dust.

That shouldn't be happening. No matter what, as long as he was in this in-between state and used the physical gate this path shouldn't just crumble to dust like this, but show him the way. He turned on his heel and ran down the road before him. Under normal circumstances, he'd had no problem finding his way even without this path, but with whatever happening right now, blocking him from reaching Earthland, from reaching Lucy, and blocking even the physical gate like this, he didn't want to risk it.

 

The lion had just made his way through the gate as the King was pushed backwards with such force that he stumbled to stay on his feet. The gate slammed shut loudly in front of him, silence spread through the gate chamber, horror settled into the present spirits mind and heart. Something like that had never happened before, even if they forced their gates open around the strongest magic absorbing material.

Aquarius was the first of the twelve who found her voice again.

"Leo…is he? I mean…he…" But even as she found her voice again, she couldn't formulate one coherent sentence, what happened shocked and terrified her. Worry filled her, worry about the zodiac leader.

"He passed through the gate on this side before it closed. He probably is in the in between right now. He should be alright."

 

"Should? Should?!" Aquarius angrily turned to the King. Anger, something she rarely displayed as long as her boyfriend was close by.

"Should is not good enough! For all we know some kind of freak magic could rip him into tiny little shreds right now, and we wouldn't know it! He could have been wounded! Even you couldn't withstand the backlash, it threw you back too, didn't it? Think about what could have happened to him!"

"Aquarius," Scorpio had walked up behind his girlfriend and placed a hand on her shoulder, "it'll be of no use for Leo if we go ripping each other heads off."

 

"Scorpio, I love you, I really, really, really do and all but, I'm begging you, SHUT UP. You don't know what happened to him either! For all we know…for all we know…"

"He is alive," the King's tone didn't let any room for doubt. It didn't stop Aquarius from glaring at him, though. The King gave a sigh before he decided to elucidate his previous statement.

"If Leo were dead, his gate would have sealed itself and turned to stone until the mantle of the Lion would have been taken up again. That's a certainty created by the very first. As his gate is as golden as ever and I did not feel any disturbances is the balance of power we know that he is alive."

Aquarius gave a disbelieving huffing sound as she crossed her arms over her chest, her glare directed at the King not wavering in the slightest.

"Is that all? Not anything else? Any other reason why you can be so sure that he is alive?"

"It isn't the answer you want to hear, even though it is a fact that gives us the knowledge that Leo is, in fact, alive."

"It sure isn't, but I guess Leo is correct, isn't he, your highness?"

"Aquarius…" Scorpio tried to say something anything to cease his girlfriend's anger, but Aquarius just shook her head.

 

"I will be in the observatory, trying to find my brother, and pray to the stars if I don't", with that Aquarius turned on her heel and marched out of the Gate Chamber.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Loke's hand closed around the green haired girl's petite neck.

"And now you tell me: Where. Is. Lucy!"

He was furious, so much that he started to lose himself to his magic. He barely took note of the shattering sound echoing through the room. His whole attention was fixed on the girl in front of him. The girl that somehow, and he doubted it was legal, got into the possession of Lucy's keys.

"I…"

Loke gave a frustrated sigh as he loosened his grip slightly. It was no use if he ended up strangling the girl before she could give him a proper answer. It was most likely no use after that too.

"I'm not in a good mood, so you better answer me."

"The Abyss Palace. She's there now."

"Abyss Palace?"

"It's deep beneath the surface, the last place where criminals are given any freedom before their execution."

 

Loke growled at the girl's answer. He hoped for her sake that he misunderstood her. Abyss Palace. Lucy was in a place for criminals? Lucy?

"Is this some kind of sick joke? Did I misunderstand something here? Or do our definitions of criminals differ so vastly?"

"I don't think they differ so greatly."

"No? Perhaps you like to enlighten me then. Why was Lucy labelled as a criminal? Hell would freeze over before Lucy would commit any criminal act."

The green haired girl averted her eyes, unwilling to continue looking in those furious golden glowing eyes.

"When it comes down to it, it is my fault, but right now we don't have the time I would need to explain everything."

"Then," Loke growled angrily, "I'd go and take that time, as I don't think you're the one who is in a position to choose."

Hisui gave a soft chuckle.

"Empty threat. You aren't that kind of person who would do something like that, at the very last not without given a reason and not in blind anger."

"You really want to test my patience?"

"No, nor do you want to test mine. After all, right now I'm the only one here able and willing to show you the entrance to the Abyss Palace. And I repeat myself, we don't have much time. The Knights already went to act on their execution order..."

 

-{~"~}-

 

The king summoned all magicians to him? Just what was going on here, he wondered, as he pulled his hood further into his face and followed the rest of the mages. His curiosity had gotten the better out of him. Maybe if he listens to the King's reasons as to why he summoned the magicians, he could figure out just why he felt this call that brought him here today and didn't let him leave.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Minerva was angry. Stretch that. She wasn't angry she was desperate. Just how... how could she have lost against that little celestial mage and her little pet lio-kitty? She refused to refer to the spirit as a lion, even if he was the lion spirit. Lions were strong, and majestic animals, the Kings of animals, those in charge and in power and she refused to refer to the spirit as lion simply because she refused to admit his strength and power. He was just a little kitten trying to play king.

But that didn't matter anymore.

With a frustrated sigh, the black-haired woman looked around her room once more, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything while packing.

Sure, she heard of the Kings summon for all mages. But what help could a useless little girl like her be for whatever he wanted? None what so ever.

She was useless, weak, a disgrace, she didn't deserve to be here, so she would leave she had to.

"This does bring back memories..."

Minerva swirled around. Why hadn't she heard anyone enter the room?

 

-{~"~}-

 

"So here's the entrance to this Abyss Palace place?" Loke raised an eyebrow as he entered the plain looking room with Hisui together. He had expected something more impressive to be the entrance then this.

"Yes. It is one of the entrances. This room has a hidden door that leads somewhere in the Abyss Palace and-" Loke interrupted the girl. That sounded an awful lot as if the tunnel was rather long and it would take some time to get to this Abyss Place, time he didn't have.

"How big exactly is this Abyss Palace thing?"

"It covers the whole underground of the city."

"So, in other words, it's right under our feet?"

"Yes, it is but what-"

 

The sound of stone falling apart and crumbling to dust interrupted whatever the princess wanted to ask.

Not willing to wait any longer after his thoughts were confirmed the lion clad his fist in light and hit the ground before him with such an force that ground gave in and fell apart, leaving a hole big enough for him to fit through.

"W-what exactly are you doing?"

"Taking a shortcut," was the spirits answer before jumping down the hole he created.

Hisui stared after the spirit as the floor already started to repair itself, thanks to the Lacrimas build into it. She wasn't sure if that lion spirit was either a genius or an utter suicidal idiot. Did the hole he had created even reached all the way down to the Abyss Palace? But she didn't had any more time to think about it. She had to start acting on the eclipse plan.

 

Wind rushed past him as he felt through the self-created hole. He was sure that his magic had shattered the ground beneath him completely so that he would simply fall through to the Abyss Palace that Hisui had spoken of. His ears weren't a sensible as that of the Dragon Slayers, Dragon ears outranked lion ears in sensibility and range, but his ears were still good enough to hear that rocks had actual fallen down and hit the ground. So that were the least of his worries. Right now his mind was fixed on finding Lucy and helping her.

Landing on the hard ground beneath him the lion rolled himself off to prevent an injury before he straightened up and looked around.

 

'Charming', were his thoughts as he got a good look at the dark and damp place. Rocks were covered in moss, and the air held the smell of something rotten. 'Really charming', the lion concluded as his gaze swept over a half-rotten corpse. This really wasn't a place where he ever wanted Lucy to be in, no matter what. He had to find her quickly and then bring her out of here.

He closed his eyes and started to contract on his senses. His ears twitched slightly as he tried to hear something, anything from any and all directions. Somewhere was a leak and water dropped down. Wind rustling through plants. He could hear how a wall crumbled down to pieces.

The flowery smell of freshly bloomed flowers, hidden beneath the stinking smell of the foul air. Something poisonous.

The burning smell of fire reached his nose. That would have to be Natsu, he guessed, the Dragon Slayer was more often than not found somewhere close to fire.

His magic reached out, spreading outwards to find something connected to it, to find Lucy's own magical energy. Before it inner-eye he pictured it like a golden light zooming through the darkness, leaving a golden trail behind until…

 

A soft tingle of his magic and the image of his blond partner flashing through his mind and he knew, he knew that he found her.

 

His eyes snapped open and he began to move, rushing past the mossy stones, through the darkness, following the feeling of his magic.

He didn't bother paying attention to where exactly he was running, he barely paid enough attention as to not run into any of these half rotten walls.  
His magic was leading him to the person he had a contract with, to Lucy. That was one of the speciality magic concerning a celestial spirit mage and the spirit. They had a kind of feeling for the others magic. With this feeling Spirts were able to pinpoint their partner and theoretical vice verse. It was also what allowed Loke to usually summon himself to wherever Lucy was. Normally being the key point here.  
He raced around a corner.  
The smell of burning flesh and melting stone tickled his nose.

 

Not good, not good. Absolutely not good. He sprinted around the last corner and came to an abrupt stop, taking a second to take in the horrible picture in front of him.

 

'Lucy!'

 

There, down there, was Lucy and the other Celestial Spirit mage, the one Ophiuchus was contracted to. They both looked as if they barely managed to escape falling into the lava themselves and still they were leaning over the edge of the rock plateau they were on, trying to reach a man who sunk deeper and deeper into the lava. If he had to make a guess, he said the man was the reason why neither girl felt into the lava, a wave of gratefulness and admiration rushed through the lion, as the thought flashed through his mind.

'Horologium, save him.' A thought of him was enough, he knew that, while the keys were as close to him as they were now, for the clock spirit to know that there was danger and that he had to act. He just hoped, that whatever had given him trouble the first time wouldn't be able to stop the other spirit from coming, now that Lucy's keys were in his hands. Luckily his hope wasn't wasted, as not a second later the clock shaped spirit raised from the lava.

Giving a sigh of relief the lion jumped down and landed behind the two other mages who had their back to him.

 

"Horologium? How-?"

Lucy stared at her spirit friend, a mix of confusion and endless relief on her face. How did he manage to come here? She didn't have his key anywhere close by, so he shouldn't have been able to sense that she or her friends were in danger, right?

"Because I'm able to pass between the worlds freely."

Lucy's head jerked around, coming face to face with the orange haired. A wave relief washed over her as she saw the orange haired lion spirit standing there, holding the small brown leather bag that held all of her keys.

 

"Loke…" He came, he managed to come and bring along her keys, her connection towards her other otherworldly friends. For a moment she forgot the situation she was in, that they were in the middle of a battle, in the midst of a lava field, fighting for their lives, fighting someone who wanted them dead and could change the whole environment as he liked. She was just so relieved seeing her trusted friend standing there, holding her keys, giving her a small reassuring smile. She doubted she had ever been as grateful to see him as she was now. If he hadn't shown up just now if he didn't bring her keys along…

"That's…he's…Leo the Lion?" Yukino stared at the zodiac leader in awe. Sure, she had seen him during the Grand Magic Games, saw him fight, saw him coming to Lucy's aid without being called, but never had she seen him as close up as now, him standing there directly in front of them.

"Here", started Loke as he handed Lucy's keys back over to their owner, "I've got those earlier, now would be the perfect time to use them I'd say."

Lucy smiled at her friend and took her keys back, feeling a soft tinge of happiness coming from them. Her friends were happy that their keys were back in her possession and were ready for a fight. And a fight they would get now.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Dragons? Dragons were supposed to attack the city tonight? He sincerely doubted it. The dragons died out centuries ago. The only two left weren't actually real dragons but Dragon Slayers who ended up being turned into dragons by their own magic. He doubted that either of them would attack the city tonight, not just because the likelihood of them sending a warning before hand was less than zero, one of them followed his orders so…

He moved his head slightly to look around. Over there was the Guild Mavis created, Fairy Tail. The Guild Natsu was part of, but… Where was Natsu?

Since he came, he tried to catch a glimpse of the boy's pink hair, but nothing. Why wasn't he here?

Did something happen to him? Now, that he paid attention, he noticed other missing too. The little Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer or that white haired Take-Over mage. The Celestial Spirit Mage – Lucy was her name?- was missing too.

If he hadn't seen the other Dragon Slayers, perhaps he would have thought that they were already preparing elsewhere for the supposed dragon attack. But as he saw them, that wasn't the case.

He gave a silent sigh as he slipped further into the darkness, unnoticed by others, and walked away. Just why didn't he just leave? Why couldn't he? Why was this feeling that he had to be here getting stronger with every second?

 

-{~"~}-

 

"Couldn't we use the way you took to get here?"

"No, not exactly. My way was punching a hole in the ground and jumping, I doubt it works the other way around."

Lucy sighed at the answer Loke gave Natsu. She wondered how long they were down here already and what happened on the surface. Had just how they could get back there?

The others had told her, that for some reason the king called all makes to him. That's why they decided to rescue them now because there would be less security and even less attention on them, or so they thought.

They hadn't expected to be caught and thrown into the abyss palace. But there was no changing that now.

Lucy gave a sigh in frustration. They've been here for heaven knows how long and there was still no exit in sight.

 

"Hime? Is everything..." Loke trailed off. He couldn't exactly ask if everything was alright, as he knew it wasn't, so he opted for looking at his blond friend in worry.

"Just peachy, just getting frustrated with all of this." The blond celestial spirit mage gave another sigh before she let her eyes wander towards the wounded knight the lion was carrying.

"He'll pull through. It'll probably take some time until he's fully healed, but he'll pull through." Lucy nodded in thanks as the spirit answered her unasked question. Arcadios saved her and Yukino's lives, so it was only natural that she worried about him.

"I wonder how come that the lava didn't do more damage to him..."

"It's because of that amulet he wears, it's Jade. Jade is a rather powerful protection stone. I dare say without it, there would have been no saving him."

"How come a stone was able to do that?" Loke turned his head to Yukino at the girl's question.

"Well I don't know how exactly it came that Jade developed those properties, I just know that there are many gemstones that are said to have unique properties like some are supposed to raise once fertility or help to put someone's mind at ease some supposedly also help with love. Mind you, not all of that is true, but many have some kind of special properties, and the protection properties of jade are very much real."

"So, how often did you use those little special stones to help you with your skirt chasing?"

"Hime, you wounded me deeply. As if I would need the aid of such things to attract those of the fairer gender. Though I may not deny that they seem to like a man with an adequate knowledge."

"And you have such an adequate knowledge?"

"Don't sound so doubtful hime, I'll let you test my knowledge if you want to."

 

"Uhm...are...are they, I mean are Lucy-san and Leo-san, are they?"

"Dating? Well..." started Mirajane, but was quickly interrupted by Lucy, before the she-devil could give into the alluring pull of matchmaking.

"No, no, no. We aren't, we don't see each other in such a light, non-negotiable whatsoever, no feelings between us!"

"Ouch," started the lion, a hurt expression on his face and if he weren't carrying the wounded knight on his back, he would have placed a hand over his heart to perfect the look.

"Are you denying our love for each other? Are you saying that there are no tender feelings between us? To be denied in such a way, the hurt..."

"Oh shut it, Loke." remarked the blond celestial wizard with an amused chuckle, if she didn't know better, and if the lion weren't acting over the top on purpose, she may have actual believed him. Through knowing better, it only amused her and helped to lift some of the tension she was feeling.

"He's like a big brother to me. An annoying and over dramatic brother, who loves teasing me in every way possible, but a brother no less."

"Ah, a brother that's something I can live with if it means I can go and tease you for your crush on you know who."

"Loke!" An angry glare was sent the lion's way, who only gave a good-natured chuckle, before turning to Yukino.

"But hime is right, we don't really see each other in a romantic way. Sure we love each other dearly, but as siblings."

Yukino nodded at the spirit's words. It was an unfamiliar concept to her. Sure she was close with her spirits - maybe not so much with Ophiuchus - but to view each other as siblings, that was a step further than as she would have guessed.

Though thinking about it, it sounded nice. She remembered her own sister and thinking about having such a close relationship, such a love for each other with her spirits, it sounded nice.

 

But…didn't Celestial Spirits live centuries longer than humans? Weren't their Spirits, both Lucy's and hers, still young compared to others? Libra once had talked about it with her, about how much longer they lived compared to her. How they would all outlive her. The same would be right in the case of Lucy and her Spirits. They would out live Lucy by far…

"What are you brooding about, little flower?"

"L-little flower?!"

Loke chuckled at Yukino's panicked shriek and the red hue spreading over her cheeks. With a slight movement of his head nodded towards the blue flower decorating the white haired spirit mages head, explaining how he thought of that particular nickname.

"Ignore him Yukino, he flirts with everything that looks good in a skirt and is at least sixteen."

"I-I see."

"You're purposely trying to make me look bad!"

"Only trying? Not succeeding?"

"Lucy, there's nothing that can make me look bad."

"Aren't you overconfident."

"It's only –", but what it was Lucy didn't get to hear. The spirit had stopped abruptly, just like Natsu and Wendy.

 

"Did you?"

"Yeah… But shouldn't the two of you noticed it before me?" Mirajane, Yukino and Lucy looked at the two Dragon Slayers and the Spirit in wonder. Natsu and Wendy, as Dragon Slayers had undoubtedly the finest senses in their little group. So if they sensed something, something had to be there. But what?

The three females were tense, expecting an attack any second now.

Perhaps-

Natsu ran forward following his nose, forcing the others to follow him into the unknown.

 

-{~"~}-

 

Dragons? Dragons died out four centuries ago. They were non-existent. The only dragon left in existence wasn't even a real dragon, at least as far as he was concerned. It made him wonder, though.

Why did they think dragons were about to attack them? Where should they come from? It wasn't like they could go and jump through time.

…One the other hand…

It would be possible with the Eclipse Gate. But no one would be stupid enough for that, would they? Who would be dumb enough to use the Gate to bring dragons here? Dragons weren't exactly the best pets, and only a lunatic would try to keep them as such. And they were far from an easy kill…

The Gate wasn't exactly stable through, he remembered. If it was used tonight if someone was tricked into using it tonight. He wondered, was that perhaps the plan? To use someone innocent to bring the dragons her to wreck havoc? Perhaps that really was the plan.

Warning the king of a to that time non-existence threat to trick him into using the Gate. That would be possible if someone really wanted to destroy the world, that's it.

Thinking about it now, he also noted the Celestial Spirit mage from Natsu's Guild, the girl that hold the Water Bearer key and nine other golden keys was missing.

Surely, though, he was just overthinking things. He could just have missed her in the crowd of magicians in front of him. There could just be no way that someone would use the Gate tonight, it would be the stupidest thing one could do.

The result would be the worse – worse than just the inability to properly control it.

No. It didn't matter, did it? It had nothing to do with him after all.

No, it didn't and moreover… He couldn't get worried now, couldn't start to care now. Not while he was so close to other living beings. Not while this curse was still upon him.

Even with that in mind, he couldn't stop it. Couldn't stop the little voice in the back of his head whispering softly into his ear as he turned around and walked away, leaving the crowd behind him. Couldn't stop it from reminding him just how dangerous this Gate really was. What it ended up doing to him. Nor in what danger it had put Kova all those years ago.

 

-{~"~}-

 

'Is that?' Surprise rendered him useless, as he stood there, just a few meters away from the massive metal gate. Unmovable and unresponsive he stood there, so close to the gate. The Gate seemed so familiar to him. It distinctive looked like the physical gates of the Celestial Spirits back in the Celestial world. No wonder, it was based on them, and it was created with Celestial magic after all.

He knew at once what this gate was and what its purpose was. What he couldn't remember, what had escaped him in the bewilderment of seeing it in front of him, was what kind of danger it meant for him. He knew that there was something about this gate, that made Celestial Sprits steer clear of it when they could prevent it. He was aware that there was some kind of instability within that gate, at least that much he could recall, but he was incapable of recalling anything else.

The Eclipse Gate towered before him and his friends, and he could feel his magic being drawn towards it.

It was active.

Well, at least now, standing in front of it, he knew what it was that blocked him from reaching Earthland.

 

The Gate towered before them, all of them staring at it in wonder. None of them fully realizing what a catastrophe this Gate could cause.

It felt unrealistic. The whole day felt unrealistic, surreal to him. It was more like a dream - no a nightmare. Not being able to travel between Earthland and the Celestial world. Lucy's arrest, their 'breakout'… The Lucy from the future, what she told them. Future Rouge who…killed Lucy.

His hand curled into a fist, his nails cutting into his flesh. He had barely been able to control his rage at the moment he saw his little sister's future self being killed. Only Natsu's ordering him, reminding him of his duty, to get Lucy away had stopped him from attacking the Shadow Dragon Slayer himself.

Why? Why did that person want to destroy the world? Why did it had to destroy Lucy's future once and had to try again? Why?

"Loke…"

"Lucy." He peered down at the girl standing next to him. She looked quite shaken. No wonder. She had just seen herself being killed. How sick was that? Seeing yourself get killed?

"Do you think Grandpa Crux will be able to find anything on this Gate so quickly?"

"Yes. He will" 'He has too', the lion added in his mind.

He shifted his gaze towards the soldiers, standing just a few dozen of feet away, listening rapidly to the conversation between the Knight that had saved Lucy's and Yukino's life and Princess Hisui. With a dark feeling of satisfaction, he nodded that she had some dark purple bruises around her throat, nearly entirely hidden by clothes, from when he almost strangled her earlier. He wasn't happy with what she did to Lucy nor with the fact that she had used Lucy's key. It was close to a criminal act for him, to use the keys of another mage without their consent.

"It's absorbing magic, even right now. I can't get any closer…"

"Then you're returning to Celestial World?"

"I don't have much choice, Wendy. If I'm staying here longer, it'll absorb me completely. I have to recharge my energy and the best and fastest way for me to do that is to return to my world…. Lucy."

"Don't worry", Lucy smiled at her friend.

"I'll take care."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After half a century I'm back with a new chapter. I'm sorry it took so long.  
> I hope next time it won't take thi long  
> Until next time


	7. Chapter 7

"Your Highness," started the goat Spirit as he entered the throne room. "Has Leo returned?" The King turned his head towards the Spirit, now standing in front of him in the middle of the room.

"Indeed he has. He managed to reach Earthland without much of a hindrance after he passed through the physical gates and find Lady Lucy."

"Very well. Where is Leo now? Is he still by her side?"

"No," Capricorn shook his head slightly, "he called all Zodiacs together. Right now, except myself, they're all in the Royal Library."

"The Royal Library? Why did he, out of all places choose to call you all there? He hates having to be there…" The king trailed off lost in his own thoughts for a moment. Yes, Leo hated having to spend time there. It wasn't that he hated to learn or read, he just hold a great dislike for that place, even though he used to spend a lot of time there as a child…

"It's out of necessity. Sir Leo learned, during his last travel to earthland, that the Eclipse Gate had been open."

"They're trying to find something about the Gate…", the king mused.

 

This Gate…it was the work of evil, only of use for those with ill intent. At least that was what he full-heartedly believed. It was what his father taught him and what he learned all those centuries ago, as that man, aided by one of their owns created it. That it now reappeared, that they were forced into contact with it… He sincerely hoped it wouldn't work. Wouldn't be used. Just destroyed. 'The Gate beyond time beholds the path to magic demise.' That was, what his wife used to say, what her mother once taught her.

While he doubted that whatever could be found through the path that the gate opened, would truly lead to magic demise. He didn't doubt that it perfectly described the evil of it.

That now the Zodiacs were trying to find something out about it. It did not sit well with him. It made his stomach clench, twist with worry and fear. He wanted to run to the library, crap the eleven golden spirits and force them out of the library, force them to let it rest. Force them before their parents, their family and lock them up until this was over. Until he could be sure that they wouldn't be in contact with that cured Gate anymore.

 

But…

 

He couldn't do it. He knew he couldn't, he shouldn't.

To protect the spirit world was the duty of the zodiacs.

To honour and hold up the contract between spirits and humans a most scarred duty for every spirit.

No matter what, they were involved with the gate either way already. As King, he could do nothing and as… no, he, they would be even less willing to listen to such orders then, as when he ordered it as king…

"Oh Vesimies, how I wished you were here right now… those two would undoubtedly have listened to you" 'and the rest would have followed their example', he thought silently.

 

-{~"~}-

 

The shadows swallowed him. They were pulling him down. Down into their endless darkness.

How…?

How did he…?

How could he have let this happen?

How did this happen?

How did he let this happen?

He lost.

No, worse…

He broke his promise.

He promised to protect her. To keep her safe.

He promised her… He promised her, her future.

He failed.

The shadows drew on him. His magic was leaving. He could feel it bleed out of him like the red substance pumping through his veins. He could feel his magic leaving him, to be consumed by the shadows.

He lost.

He failed.

He couldn't fight anymore.

He couldn't even free himself.

"Luce…"

This… was this his end?

 

-{~"~}-

 

"You know who I am. You know how just mentioning my name strikes fear into one's heart. You know of the things I did. Still… what makes you think I'm willing to help?" He was at a lost, as he looked at the other hooded person in front of him. "You used it too… Does the world mean so much to you, that you were willing to use the curse I created to travel through time just to save it?"

"I'm no fool. I live in this world. Of course, I'd do everything I can to save it. It's mere self-preservation, nothing else."

He looked at her. The dark cloak kept her covered, and it's hood her identity secret. Neither meant much to him though. He was once called a prodigy, a genius. He had studied magic, for longer than any other human alive. Four centuries-long he studied and learned and reviewed everything he could get his hands on.  
To make his parents proud, to be able to live up to his brother's image of him, for fun… for a way to bring his brother back… a way to find a cure for his curse.

His knowledge of magic was supreme. He doubted that any other human possessed such knowledge as he did. And with knowledge came power, making him even more dangerous… and making him even more in tune with magic.

A piece of cloths was not enough to keep her identity from him. The feel of her magic he recognised, even if he had never before been face to face with her. The mark the gate had left on her…

"Only a fool would come to me for help."

"If it weren't needed, if…" He could easily feel her glare on him. No surprise there. No, what surprised him was the defeated sigh she gave after a moment. "Listen, I am not here because I believe there's anything good in you, or that you would ever be willing to help… But someone… someone I dare say cared about – even if he was the most annoying fool I ever met – thought for whatever reason that there's something in you, that you would help."

He raised an eyebrow. Someone was naive enough to think that he would help? That he would care? No…. he couldn't care. He had to leave before he started to care. His magic, should he care… No, just no. He couldn't.

"He was mistaken then," was his cold remark. Yes, he would not help. He'd only make it worse. Like he made everything worse.

"He also said, I should give you this in case you'd refuse. He said, you would reconsider your answer if you're reminded of what once was."

 

That… that was…

 

The amulet with the clear azure blue stone. That was…

He ripped the old jewellery out of the gloved hand.

"You have no idea what a dangerous game you are playing – I am a ticking timebomb of mass destruction."

 

-{~"~}-

 

A flash of light. An explosion. Fire.

The city was burning. Overrun by the power of seven dragons. How could…

The Eclipse Gate was supposed to save them from these monsters, not be the reason why they were here.

Her whole plan all she did for the past seven years. It was all for nothing. Kneeling broken on the ground before the very gate that had been supposed to save them and now lead them on the path towards their own doom… Hisui could feel the crystal clear watery substance run down her face, daring to leave her eyes.

The gate had been opened. Dragons came through.

Lucy and Yukino desperately tried to close it again, but it was useless…

And she? What was she doing? Sitting on the floor, crying. Her limbs were numb, she couldn't even move to help them… Just how useless was she?

"I-I-"

 

"Stop acting as if it's over already! We can still stop this – Help us princess Hisui!"

Lucy's voice cut through Hisui's desperate and with self-hatred filled thoughts. Even now, even as everything seemed lost, the two celestial mages fought, tried to stop it. Just like every other mage in the city.

Her hands clenched into fists.

With everyone fighting how could she? How could she the crown princess of this land just sit on the sidelines barling her eyes out while her people fought?

She had to fight. She had to. She had at least to try.

Hisui stumbled to her feet, her mind set on what she decided to do – what she had to do.

She'd fight. To the very end, she'd fight. By those mages, by her people's side. She had to. She owned it to her people.

 

-{~"~}-

 

"Ice Make: Panzer! – Juvia! You're alright?" Lyon hurried to the blue-haired water-woman, shield from one of the dragon's offsprings by his Ice magic. "Juvia's fine. Thank-"

"Ice Make: Lance!" Dozens of ice lances rained down onto the two monsters coming up behind the Lamina Scale mage.

"We don't have time for chit-chat now! We're being run over by dragons!"

"Gray-sama!"

"What? You're jealous of Juvia and me?" With a teasing grin, Lyon looked at his former fellow student with a mocking glint in his eyes. The white-haired ice mage waved his hands to create a bunch of snow-white ice birds, that shoot down on the dragons, exploding on contact.

The dragons stayed unharmed. Choosing to ignore the white-haired's taunting, Gray, in turn, created an ice bazooka, shooting at the incoming enemies, trying to make them back off at least…

 

It was fruitless.

 

They merely continued moving forward, unaffected by their magic. A growl escaped the dark-haired ice mage. The dragons were closing in more and more. Their magic was oblivious – painfully obliviously – as useful as a handful of ice cubes against a raging forest fire.

 

Ineffective. Useless. Fruitless.

 

From what he could see not even the Dragon Slayers stood no chance – and their magic was made to battle dragons like these!

If things didn't change in their favour soon… With how things looked right now…

Hands balled into angry fists. Gramps… Erza… Natsu… Lucy… Juvia… everyone from the Guild. No, not just from Fairy Tail… Lyon… Sherry… Sherria… Master Bob… Jellal…simply everyone would die. They would all die.

The dragons wouldn't just stop with the mages fighting them, but would also attack the townspeople, the villages, mothers, fathers, children…

"Dammit", Gray dodged and let another shower of ice spears down at those monsters.

"Got anything else?" "Sure more than you!" Lyon gave a short laugh.

At least they would go down with humour and fighting.

 

"Juvia! Watch out!" At the last possible second Gray jumped forward and pushed the water mage to the ground. Out of the way of the beast's blast.

Just one moment. For only one moment he managed to prolong her life. Giving her a few moments more to live. With how things were as of right now they would die either way, but… "Gray-sama saved Juvia…", just a few moments more which they could spend together.

"Juvia I-" "Gray!" Lyon's panicked shout cut the other ice mage's words short. Gray turned around to see what had his friend in such a panic, too late. One of the beasts had appeared behind the black-haired, and already Gray could see the magical blast racing towards him.

So this was it? He died before he could…? Just when he finally managed to work up the courage. Life really hated him, huh?

A wave of darkness shallowed the light beam, speared over the area towards the dragons. It clothed the dragons in darkness, before retreating back to wherever it came from. The dragons dropped to the ground – dead.

"How – who – what?" Horror and suspicion adored their faces. It wasn't something you saw every day. From the optic the magic resembled Rouge's shadow Dragon Slayer magic, but from the feel. It felt nothing like Rouge's magic. This wave of darkness, the feeling it gave off, it made the three mages tremble in fear and horror.

 

"...You're friends of Natsu…?" The three swirled around to where the voice came from, to where the magic had retreated. There, getting closer and closer, was a man, covered from head to toe by a dark, hooded cloak. With him coming out of the same direction the magic came from, that would mean…

 

Gray shallowed. This man gave off the same feeling as the magic. The same ailing feeling that made him feel sick and was able to strike fear into his very being all at once.

"That – Was that just now… Was that you?" A slight tilting of the hooded head – a nod Gray guessed from the movement. So, he helped them by killing of those dragons – those monsters.

Gray could feel his hand tremble from the sheer magical energy rolling off of the man. The closer the man came, the heavier the feeling got. Why didn't they feel such a magical power before? Was the man actual suppressing it? And it still gave off such an immense magical pressure?

"What do you want from Natsu?" Funny his voice sounded a lot more confidence than he was feeling. The hooded figure stopped in his tracks, right beside Gray. Now, closer than ever, Gray could feel the magical pressure clearer than ever. What power.

He stared at the figure with, a frown drawing on his face, his hands balled into fists to stop their shaking. No matter how powerful… If a strange person showed up, killed a bunch of dragons – even if those monster were just the offsprings of one – when their magic was utterly useless against them and asked for one of your friends.

 

Gray felt justified in being distrustful against this stranger, and he would not allow him to harm any of his friends and Guildmates as long as he was there, no matter how scared and powerless he felt.

"I mean him no harm – I never did nor ever will." And with that the person continued walking down his path, leaving the group of three behind. "Who?" "I have no idea Juvia, I have absolutely no idea." Gray starred after the stranger. He had left into the direction from where the dragons came – the direction of the Eclipse Gate.

Just who was that man and what had he to do with Natsu?

 

-{~"~}-

 

With a painful gasp, she tumbled to the ground. "Damn." It seemed as if she underestimated her previously received wounds from the last round of the Grand Magic Games.

Her whole body hurt. It felt as if it was on fire. She shouldn't have gone alone.

Mentally she cursed herself for rejecting her Guildmates offers to team up and going alone. How could she have thought that this was a good idea? That they would be able to handle more dragons this way?

Now she laid face down on the streets of a city overrun by dragons.

Three – four, no five dragon offsprings were closing in on her. She really shouldn't have gone alone. She tried to get back onto her feet, tried to ignore the pain shooting through her body, she wouldn't go down without fighting. She didn't want to go down without fighting. Pain shot through her again as she tried to move to get into an easier position to stand up from. Too slow though, way too slow.

The first monster prepared itself to jump. She could see it through half-lidded eyes. So, this was her end? Ripped apart by dragons.

What a pathetic way to end.

If only she had listened to her Guildmates, her friends – her family – if only…

Light flashed before her, shooting down at the beast before it could reach her.

 

"It looks like you barely have the strength to stand. If I didn't know better, I'd say you overexerted yourself again." The familiar voice reached her ears.

"I hope this doesn't offend you, but let me give you a hand." There, standing, before her stood former member of the council, former ten wizard saint and the man who always held and would always hold a special place in her heart, Jellal Fernandes.

"I fear you are right." She mumbled as she let herself be pulled to her feet by the blue-haired wizard.

"You think?" Jellal gave a frustrated sigh. "Don't do things like that. You make me worry."

"Ha, I'm sorry."

"You'd do it anyway."

"I have to help my friends."

Jellal sighed. But could he really blame her? After all, he was here for the same reason, wasn't he? To help his friends – to support the woman he loved. Wasn't that why he had gone and gotten Cobra here? He couldn't even be frustrated with that woman's inability to think of her own safety.

"Just don't try to do everything on your own. Your friends are there to help you – I am there to help you."

Erza gave a curt nod at Jellal's words. "I-", but she hadn't had the chance to finish.

 

Hurried footsteps ew closer to them. Lighter and faster than the steps of the dragon paws. So, undoubtedly a human came running towards them. Jellal stiffened slightly at that relation. It wouldn't do for someone to see him being all buddy-buddy with Erza, not with him being wanted criminal on the run and all. He didn't want to harm anyone, but if he had to… to keep Erza from getting in trouble because of him…

It was Erza who saw the black-haired woman, that came running towards them from behind Jellal, first and it was because of the way her eyes lit up in recognization, and her face lost the wary expression she had had, that Jellal could feel himself relax again.

He turned around, t follow Erza's gaze, and saw his black-haired teammate run towards them. "Ultear?" He was confused, didn't she and Meredy go to the palace? His confusion made place for another emotion through as he saw Ultear's worried face. "What happened?"

"Something – something happened with Natsu! As – as he was nearly swallowed by the shadows-"

 

-{~"~}-

 

Meredy and Ultear kneeled next to the shadow hole that had nearly swallowed the Dragon Slayer whole. They were desperately trying to pull the boy out, while he sunk deeper and deeper into the darkness. His mouth moved slightly – as if he was trying to say something, even in his unconscious state.

"Come on Natsu. You gotta get up." Even though knowing that it would be fruitless – hat he wouldn't be able to hear her in his state – Meredy muttered under her breath for the pink-haired boy to wake up, again and again, and again. They had to get him out of there. Thye couldn't lose him to the shadows. This was a battle where they needed him more than ever. It was a battle against dragons, and for that, they needed every DragonSayer they could get. They needed the fire-breathing boy.

Both women were so desperately trying to pull the boy back up, they didn't notice how things started to chance.

It started with the unconscious boy's heartbeat picking up again. First slowly, ever so slowly. His body temperature raising. Rising, rising, higher and higher, pulse quicking.

More, more, faster and faster, until waves of heat started to pulse from his body.

Their bodies reacted on reflex, letting go of the burning body, as the heat became too much for them to bear.

Heat rolled off of his body, to such a great degree, that they've never seen before.

The heat was rising and rising, his body just so pulsing from the heat. Stange blasting scarlet marks started to appear on his skin, drawing a pattern over his whole body. The shadows that were just about to swallow him completely themselves changed colour, turning red just like iron did under extream heat.

 

"Lucy." His voice was different. It sounded rough and merciless, so different from usual, not even in anger they ever had heard it sound so monstrous, and it was barely about a whisper – a whisper of his dear friend's name.

He opened his eyes at the same moment as the heat exploded around him, pushing both women back and ripped the shadows apart.

Horrified Ultear couldn't even stand up, just staring at the body, now standing on its feet, with burning debris falling around him. Strings of flames swirled around him, not enough to cover him from view, but enough for a display of power coming off of him. The marks on his skin were dulling slowly, still there though, not entirely disappearing. The heat rolled off of him like never before. The display of power before them was… incredible and horrifying scary.

His eyes. His eyes though were what scarred Ultear the most. Gone were the kind black eyes that she got to know as his friend. They were replaced by the dull scarlet iris, with slitted pupils and – Ultear could have sworn – the white of his eyes had gotten less and darker. Those weren't the kind eyes of Fairy Tail's salamander. That were the eyes of a monster.

"Lucy"

 

Far away, sitting on his dark throne, the king of the Underworld looked in wonder at the old red leather-bound book in his hand, pulsing with energy. "Master E.N.D. has the time finally come?"

 

-{~"~}-

 

The three celestial spirit mages tried desperately to pull the lever down to close the Eclipse Gate. But the lever refused to budge, not even with the joined strength of all three. Around them, the battle against the dragons raged. The knights tried to fight them back, to give the three girls more time, a chance to stop this invasion.

Six dragons had already passed the gate, and those were already enough trouble. One of those dragons also had the unfortunate ability to lay eggs that hatched, and those offsprings were also attacking and pushing the humans back into a figurative corner.

With clenched teeth, Lucy threw her whole weight against the stubborn lever. They had to finally close this thing, otherwise… She didn't even want to begin to imagine what would happen if they didn't manage to close the gate.

There would be more dragons coming, and they were already failing against those few already here. The future her future self had talked about would come to pass. The future she had tried to prevent, the future her future self had given her life for to prevent.

She could still see the shadows racing towards her, and her future self throwing herself in front of her to save her. How her future self laid there, dying, begging to see her Guildmark one last time. Lucy remembered how the light vanished from her eyes forever. She had been frozen stiff, if Loke hadn't pulled her away, pulled her out of the palace, she would probably still be kneeling there, starring in horror at what happened to her future self. To see yourself die… That was perhaps the most horrifying thing she had ever, and would ever experience.

But now… if they didn't finally manage to close the gate, her future self's sacrifice would be in vain and useless. Everything her future self had done and had to endure in order to save the future, it would be in vain.

 

"Come on! I'm begging you, move!" Tears run down Lucy's face. That stupid lever, it had to it just had to finally give in and move, it had to.

She could feel a slight warm coming from her keys, swaying at her hip. Her spirits were trying to lead her some of their strength. Aquarius, Scorpio, Capricorn, Loke, Grandpa Crux, even Plue, she could feel all her spirits trying to strengthen her. Even if they couldn't physically be here right now, all fifteen were trying to help her as good as they could. They were trying to help her in any way they could. Sending her strength, trying to find any information that could help them closing the gate and stopping the dragons.

Even if she would die, even if all of human-kind would die. Her spirits would survive, they could live peacefully in their own realm, they didn't had to do so much to try and help her, and still, they were. That too was why she could just not fail, her spirits her friends, were doing so much for her. She couldn't let them down either, let their hard work be for nothing.

"Princess Hisui!"

 

Three heads snapped around as they heard the knight shout. Three pairs of eyes widen in horror. No. No. No. There were three of the dragon offsprings closing in on them from the other side. The knights were on the other side of them, trying to fight the offsprings off there. They wouldn't be able to get to the new ones fast enough.

Lucy's hand were shaking. The knights would never make it in time to save them from those too. The offsprings were already charging their attacks. If Yukino and Hisui continued trying to move the lever, she could. No not could, she had to.

Her hands were shaking like never before as she let go of the lever. This was not like the fight against Phantom, or at the Tower of Heaven or even on Tenrou Island. This was nothing like the Grand Magic Games.  
She was nervous. She was scared. She wasn't sure that she could even do anything. She only knew that she had to do something.

Her spirits…no. They were busy finding every information they could, and they needed those. She had to do this herself.  
She knew she didn't have much experience in fighting without her spirits. The only time she ever used magic in a battle – besides summoning her spirits – was one time, Urano Metria as Hibiki used his magic to give her the knowledge of the spell. She knew that the few things Loke had tried to cram into her brain this morning would not be enough to truly make a difference against those monsters, but still, she had to. She just had to.

 

Shaking Lucy raised up to her feet and stood between the newly arrived monsters and the two other Celestial Spirit mages.

"Lucy-san!"

"Continue trying to close the gate! I'll make sure that they don't come anywhere near us!" Her voice was filled with fake confidence, and she knew it too, and Yukino and Hisui surely knew it as well. But, if they just needed a few more moments to close the gate. If she was the one that could give them those few more moments.

 

There was one spell. There was just one spell. That one spell Loke insisted on teaching her no matter what. That one spell that could give them those few more moments.

She hadn't mastered it. She hadn't even come close to mastering it. She hadn't thought that she would need it this soon. She knew though if she wanted to hold them off somehow, she had to use it. She had no other choice.

Raising her hands slightly, her open palms directed at the dragons, she forced herself to breathe steadily. Concentrate, concentrate, just like Loke had shown her earlier, oh so much earlier. It felt like an eternity that they had been down there, Loke trying to teach her what he could in such a short time.

 

_"Alright, hime. That wasn't too shabby." The lion spirit stood in front of her. Arms crossed over his chest. He had taken off his black jacket, and red tie, the sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up, and the first two buttons were undone. He had a satisfied expression on his face, a glint of pride shining in his eyes. "That was actually better than I expected – and I had expected a lot." "You, you truly are a slave driver." Panted Lucy. She was on all fours, gasping and panting for air, trying to catch her breath. Her hair was a messy ponytail she had hastily done during the training – it was a failed attempt to cool down – and her clothes, sweaty and sticky, were glued to her body. She didn't have a watch on her, but she was sure that the spirit had her running and jumping and dodging and kicking and punching for years – at least she felt like it. Just why did she agree to let herself be trained by this slave driver?_

_"Here." She looked up to see Loke holding a bottle in front of her face. She hadn't noticed how thirsty she was. "Thanks," greedily she gulped down the purple liquid._

_"It looks like we still have some time."_

_Lucy looked up at Loke. The orange-haired had his gaze directed to the skies above them. She remembered that Capricorn once told her, that celestial spirits could easily tell the exact time when looking at the sky._

_"Some time for resting?" "No, no. That wasn't planned for another hour or so." The blonde celestial spirit mage looked at her friend in wonder. What was he planning? She was already exhausted and doubted that she could do much more – even if she were already feeling better now that she had something to drink. "About an hour, that should be… Yeah," the lion was talking to himself, before he nodded and turned his gaze to Lucy, "Alright, hime. Time's over, let's get back to business."_

_"Eh?! I thought that was all you wanted to teach me for today!" Loke shook his head. "There's one, one last spell I want you – I need you – to know." The desperate glint in his hazel eyes and the seriousness on his face made her sit up properly, directing all her attention away from her hurting muscles and to the lion. "What spell?"_

_A smirk crossed the lion's face. "I'll show you." Turning on his heel, the lion walked a few meters away. With his back turned to her, Lucy could see a few small stains on the back of his shirt, they came from earlier, as she messed up a spell and he jumped in to protect her from the backlash. Loke came to a halt a few meters away and turned back to face her again. He crossed his arms over his chest, his smirk still in place._

_"Throw something at me."_

 

_"EH?!"_

 

_"Throw something at me," Loke repeated the annoying smirk still on his face._

_Lucy looked around. Ah, there were some small rocks. Standing up she walked over to them and picked them up. They were about the size of her fist, and she was sure she could throw them rather well, they weren't that heavy either. She turned to look at Loke again, he was still watching her with that smirk. It really pissed her off, it was as if he thought whatever she threw at him couldn't hurt him. Well, she'd shown him! Sure, he was a friend – and was most likely pissing her off on purpose – but she would show him. Show him that she could get better and that his time wasn't wasted on her. If hitting him with rocks was how she had to go about it, so be it._

_She took the first rock, an oval shaped one with moos starting to cover it. She threw her arm back, far behind her head. Taking a moment to look at the lion she took note of how he still had his arms crossed and that smirk. Not taking any longer to think about, she swung her arm forward, releasing the stone and letting it fly at the lion. She was sure, that when it hit it would at least leave a small bruise and wipe that smirk off his face. With a victorious smile, she watched the rock flew – only to miss the lion and flying past his right ear._

 

_"EH?!"_

 

_"Again."_

 

_He didn't have to tell her that, she was already grabbing another rock and threw it. This time it flew past his left ear, still missing him._

_"Try again."_

 

_This time she took longer to aim. She wouldn't miss this time. For a moment she held the gaze of the lion, and then, it all went fast. She threw the third rock, this time it flew straight at Loke's face. It would hit him directly in the face, but still, the lion made no indication to move or do anything. She was already sure that she got him this time, but, before the rock reached its goal, it changed direction and flew directly back at her. With a startled scream she jumped aside, only to be missed by a few inches._

_She landed in the dirt, not having caught her footing, and the lion was right beside her before she registered what happened and helped her up again._

_"You okay? Sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt."_

_"No, I'm fine – really I am fine, Loke. But, what was that? It looked as if you reflected the stone back at me."_

_"Basically, yes that's what I did." The lion lets go of her after he checked her over to ensure that she really was okay._

_"How? I mean, you specialise in light magic and light doesn't reflect by itself."_

_"I'll show you again, slower this time."_

_Lucy nodded and grabbed another rock, as the lion returned to his former position. Her eyes fixed on the lion. This time she would see what exactly happened. She threw the rock at the lion and watched in concentration what happened._

_The rock flew directly at the lion, before it came to a halt, suspended in the air. Lucy could see something flash shortly in front of the rock before it shot back. This time she was prepared and managed to dodge it._

 

_"You saw it?" Loke asked Lucy after he returned to her side._

_"Yeah, I think so." The blonde mage answered, before crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyebrows were drawn together in a frown as she thought about what she had seen._

_"You crystalised the light of Regulus in front of you before you were hit. Then, you used the crystallised light like a mirror to reflect it back at me. I didn't know that you could do that with light magic."_

_Loke chuckled at the blonde-haired. She did catch on, on what he had done quickly. He was proud of her. Not that he expected any different from the intelligent woman he was contracted to._

_"You're right. That's what I did. It takes a long time to truly master this, but if you do, it's always a good trump card. No one would expect a Celestial mage to have a trick like this up their sleeve. Afterall, this is a peculiarity of mine – of the celestial – magic."_

_"So, you're saying with the common light magic found here in earthland, it wouldn't be possible?"_

_Loke shook his head at his master's question. "No, it isn't. I admit I'm not sure if the Light Dragon Slayer you talked about could do something like this – I'm no expert at that magic – but otherwise, no it isn't."_

_Lucy nodded in thought. Again a thing in that Celestial magic different slightly from the magic of earthland. The whole morning she learned of smaller things the magic found in earthland and celestial magic different from each other. Silently she wondered why that was so, but then she remembered that Natsu's Dragon Slayer magic too differ from regular fire magic. Perhaps it was because they were developed differently._

_"So, if I know this spell, I'd be able to reflect everything thrown at me?" Loke frowned at her question. "Theoretical – yes. But, while I do want you to master this spell – to be able to cast it in your sleep – I do not want you to use it."_

 

_"Huh?" She looked at him in wonder. Why teach her something he didn't want her to use. The lion sighed as he directs his eyes to look directly into her eyes. Lucy felt a shiver run down her back – and not the good kind – under her friend's serious gaze. Every trace of his usual easy going self disappeared from his form._

_"Listen. This spell, while incredibly useful once mastered is just as dangerous. If done correctly it does reflect the attacks back on your opponent, but if done wrong… Best case and you get the first part done correctly and end up having at least a shield that can take some hits. Worst case… you waste your energy and… you'd have nothing to defend yourself with – even worst you would most likely be hit by a backlash and your opponent's attacks. This is a double-edged sword, Lucy, and I want you to only use it as the very last resort and only when you completely mastered it."_

 

'I'm sorry, Loke' Lucy thought as she concentrated on building up the magic she would need, ' _I know I'm nowhere close to having mastered it, but I have no other choice._ ' She pressed her eyes close to keep them from tearing up. Never before did she broke a promise – as a Celestial Spirit mage it goes completely against her philosophy to break one – and she knew Loke hadn't exactly made her promise it, but still. She felt as if she was betraying her dear friend's trust, no she was sure that she was doing it, but what other choice did she have? Let them get killed by those monsters? Let the future her future self had tried to prevent come to pass?

She couldn't, she just couldn't.

' _Please, forgive me._ '

The light flared up before her and crystallised into the form she wanted it to have. She was nowhere as elegant as Loke when using this spell, he had been able to cast it in a moment just before he would be hit and he was able to only let it appear where he needed it, small and delicate, unsee for opponents. Hers, on the other hand, hers was big and bulky, easily spotted. Glowing gold in front of her, nothing like the see throughness the lion managed. Still, comparing her mastery of this spell to that of Loke's who was over a century old and studied it so much longer than she did, would be absolutely stupid.

 

The first magic beam of the monsters hit her shield.

 

She could feel the magical energy shaking it, could feel how she and her shield were pushed backwards. Yes, she hadn't mastered the spell, but still, during the training, she at least managed to reflect the lion's attacks somewhat. But, this was nothing as it was in training. This wasn't Loke who hold back while attacking to allow her to slowly built up her mastery of this spell.

This was a battlefield, and those monsters weren't holding back – why should they? She was their enemy. She could feel her arms shake, not just from fear that she tried to suppress, but also from the pressure on her magic to keep this up.

"Come one. Come one, Please", she could hear herself begging. Begging for this spell to work, to at least shield them. She could feel how slowly, ever so slowly the monsters attacks started to overpower her. She could barely keep it up any longer. If only she could use it properly and reflect the attacks finally.

With all her might she pressed forward, pushing all her magic into this spell. Just once, just once it had to work if she could do it and reflect it back onto those monsters!

But that was utopic thought. She knew she could never reflect it.

She heard herself scream as she pushed her everything into her spell.

The shield in front of her glowed brighter than ever before, and then…

 

An explosion that flung her off her feet and threw her backwards. Hisui was the one who barely managed to catch her, one hand still on the lever trying to pull it down.

It took her less than a second to realise what happened.

 

Her spell had broken under the attacks of the dragons, leading to a magic backlash that had thrown her backwards. But… after the dust started to settle down she could see what else happened. Her spell may have been broken, but the attacks had not reached further than where she had started to create it. And, it had reflected the attacks. Well no, reflected was not the right word, while yes one or two of that monster had been hit by their attacks being reflected, it looked more like they had been redirected into every possible direction – just not theirs and for that she was thankful. But now…

 

The other monsters were still closing in on them. Slowly, as if to scare and mook them, they continued advancing towards them, already a few were preparing their next attacks.

And she? She couldn't cast that spell again, successful or not. Her body was in pain, it felt as if hundreds of small needles were piercing her skin and muscles. And her magic reserves… they were as good as non-existence now. She turned her head slightly, Yukino and Hisui – who still hold onto her wrist – were still trying to close the gate. Knights were running towards them – they wouldn't make it in time for the second wave of attacks.

She pressed her eyes shut. What a failure she was in the end. She couldn't even face her own demise properly.

Rather than seeing it, she felt it. A magic wrapping around them, protecting them from the dragons blasts.

Next to her, she could hear Yukino gasp. "Lady Minerva!"

 

Slowly she cracked an eye open and looked up. And yes, there standing in front of them was the Queen of Sabertooth herself. Lucy blinked in wonder. Of all the people in the city, Minerva was the last one she would have ever expected to show up to help. Especially not to help her – Lucy was sure that the black-haired woman loathed her. But she still showed up and saved them.

"What's supposed to become of this kingdom if even its princess is this pathetic?" The territory mage threw the three girls a look over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "But do tell me, what are you trying to do here?"

Hisui was the one that answered the Sabertooth queen, ignoring the insult that had been directed her way. "The dragons came through the Eclipse Gate. We need to close it before even more come through!"

Minerva looked at the three girls for a moment with a raised eyebrow. The dragons were still shooting their magic beams at them, but so far they didn't manage to break through the shield she had created with her Territory magic.

"And for that, you want to use this lever?" Hisui nodded at the black-haired's question.

"It's a door." Minerva stated, "ever tried to simply go and push it close instead of using this to activate some mechanisms?"

"That's not-"

Hisui's retort was cut short by an explosion. The dragons had managed to break through Minerva's shield. The Territory mage frowned slightly, the only change in her expression.

 

This wasn't good. Her shield didn't hold anywhere near as long as she wanted it too. It broke because these ugly beasts managed to overpower it. Overpower her magic. Wasn't it already bad enough that she lost to an overgrown kitten, now she was overpowered by such ugly beasts?

With a wave of her hand, the black-haired created another magic sphere to absorb the next incoming attacks. This was harder than she expected. With another wave of her hand and she created a sphere over the monsters and let their absorbed attacks down on them. She needed a whole lot more of magic to teleport the attacks than she would have liked to admit.

It was a few mere seconds that had passed since her shield broke, but she feared she wouldn't be able to withstand the attacks for that much longer if she continued to absorb and release them again.

"I'd hurry if I were you and close this thing!"

 

Lucy blinked at Minerva. She was really helping them? Why? She didn't like any of them, well she guessed that she didn't like Yukino because Sabertooth didn't seem like a Guild that helped to build bonds with their comrades.

But, Lucy knew, the black-haired woman was right. They had to hurry. She didn't want to think about how much strength and energy it cost to shield them from the dragon's attacks.

With a nod to each other, the celestial mages returned their attention back to trying to close the gate.

It couldn't have been more than a few moments before a loud roar was heard. Another dragon was starting to come through the gate. A seventh. Her heartbeat started to pick up, a panic pumping in her chest. It was already too much for them now!

She starred at the gate in horror and fear as the scaly head started to appear.

They couldn't deal with another one!

 

A wave of darkness appeared in the area. Was it summoned by this new dragon? No, it couldn't be, could it? Was it… was it the Rough from the future? Please no.

The darkness moved around, over the dragons, swallowing them whole. All of them, not one dragon was speared. It moved and swallowed them and then… it retreated. The dragons lifeless bodies hit the ground.

A crackling sound that Lucy had come to associate with fire, a sound that she could always pick up no matter the noise around her. A storm of hot flames shot at the dragon that was just passing through the gate. They pushed the monster back, forced it to step back, back into the gate, back into its time.

Just after the dragon had been pushed back, a circle appeared in the air before the gate. Lucy recognised two of the black runes decorating the circle. They meant 'block' and 'hold', Levy had once taught her few, after the Battle of Fairy Tail, where Freed had been using his runes to trap people and forcing them to battle.

This though, while Lucy guessed it was Jutsu Shiki – the same magic Freed used for his barriers – wasn't the work of Freed. The magic alone felt different than that of the green-haired rune mage, and the runes were different ones than those of the Fairy Tail mage.

 

Silence reigned over the area. Everyone starred wide-eyed at the dark rune circle floating in front of the gate. The circle, entirely made up of runes in different dark colours running along the whole form of the circle, drawing a muster in it. It was hypnotising, the runes shining in front of the gate, throwing dark light over all of them. What was the most hypnotising about the runes though, was the magic power that emitted from them.

Footsteps echoed over the silent place, drawing closer to them, echoing from the palace walls, being swallowed by the trees and bushes.

"That someone had been so foolish to use the Eclipse Gate."

Heads snapped around to the source of the voice. A dark clothed figured walked towards them – towards the three celestial spirit mages. A hood covering his head and hit his face from the world, at least until he stood directly in front of them and looked down at them.

"Who of you had been so foolish as to open it tonight?"

Lucy blinked in wonder at the male. Black hair and eyes, pale skin and kind face now visible to her, peeking out from under his hood. His kind and strangely familiar face. The nose, the similar jawline, Lucy was sure she had seen those before. Seen those on someone else before, even his eyes reminded her of someone, but she couldn't put her finger on who.

The black eyes were on the three celestial spirit mages, running them over from head to toe – Lucy felt as if his gaze lingered on her for a second longer than on the others.

His face may have been kind, but a coldness rolled off of him, that even with his familiar features Lucy couldn't help a cold shiver running down her back.

"Who of you three had been this foolish?" He asked again, his voice – like his face – had a kindness to it that was overshadowed by its coldness.

 

Hisui opened her mouth to answer the unknown man, but her words were lost, the sound being overshadowed by a loud roar coming from the gate. The black haired male turned his head to the gate and titled his head slightly. "I see… you've collected a lot of magic energy. No wonder you are unable to close it now." The rune seal that the man – and it had to have been the man, who else could have created them but him? – vibrated softly, unnoticeable to the naked eye but Lucy could feel the slight vibration of magic. Another roar came from the gate. The man looked at it in what Lucy guessed to be a mild interest before he turned back to them.

"You won't be able to close it this way." Lucy wondered how someone could have such a kind face and still process such an air of coldness and emptiness around him. What could have happened to him that made him resigned like this? That even his aura emitted this emptiness.

"Who are –", started Yukino but stopped as she changed her mind about her question, "No, what do you mean? What do you mean we won't be able to close it this way?"

The black-haired's empty eyes flickered over to Yukino focusing his attention on her. "Because," the male stated in his soft voice, "it has absorbed too much energy. The enormous masses of energy the gate absorbed – that right now are running through the gate – are keeping it open. To close it you would need even more energy."

Horrified expressions drew on the faces of the three celestial spirit mages and the lone territory mage, as they realised just what the man had said – what it meant. If the magic that the gate had already absorbed was what was keeping the gate open, then to close it they would need an even higher amount of magical energy to close it.

And Lucy remembered with a sinking feeling, the gate had been absorbing the magic from the Grand Magic Games for seven years. There was no way that the three of them, even together, would have enough magical energy to surpass the collected mass.

 

How were they supposed to stop this? If what the man said was the truth they couldn't.

 

Another roar was heard, coming from the city. Lucy shivered as a horrible thought crossed her mind. No not a thought – a realisation. If they couldn't stop this, the future her future-self had talked about would come to pass – the future where everyone died would come to pass.

The man returned his eyes back to the gate. The magic runes that he – who else could have it been? – had created were still there. Why hadn't the gate absorbed the magic used for them already?

"How long has it been activated?" "Huh?" This time it was Hisui that blinked up to the male confused – the question sounded as if it was directed at her. She was after all the only one that could know it. What confused the green-haired princess was why he would ask something like that now, in a situation like this.

"How long as it been activated? How much time has passed since the zodiac keys had been used to activate it?" It was barely there, barely noticeable but Lucy could hear the urgency that started to appear in his voice. Hisui too seemed to have to notice it, as this time she answered the question – albeit still confused.

"Um five, maybe six hours?" It sounded more like a question than an answer, but it was enough for the man, with a slight tilting of his head he showed that he had heard the princess. "And you too helped her with your keys?"

"No!" Lucy's answer was fast and instinctively. Not because she wanted to deny any involvement with this. She didn't even know why exactly. Perhaps the fact that someone had taken her keys – the physical connection to her otherworldly friends – and used them, without their consent, angered her more than she had thought and made her react so touchy about the subject.

"I see," the man said. This time, Lucy was sure, she could hear some suppressed anger in his voice. Why was he angry? But she couldn't ask him, as he continued mumbling under his breath.

"Then, if we assume it was five hours, since it has been activated – without the Spirits nor the contracted mages cooperation… Half an hour since it has been open, six dragons and it has absorbed magic for seven years…"

The four females starred at the man. What was he mumbling about? Why was he rambling down the facts they already knew?

 

"Yes," the man stated finally, "that would work." The man turned back to the three celestial mages. "Do you want to close the gate?"

 

What… Why would he ask such a ridiculous question, Lucy thought. Of course, they wanted to close it! What did he think they were doing here? A picnic?!

But she doubted angering their strange…ally – was he an ally? – would be anything but a foolish idea. Even more so, over such a silly thing. So instead she only confirmed it with a soft nod.

"Very well, then you two", the man directed his attention towards Lucy and Yukino, "get over there and summon the twelve zodiacs."

"That won't work! The gate would absorb the magic we'd use right away, and the spirits also wouldn't be able to come even close to it!" It was Hisui who voiced her disagreement with the man's plan and Lucy had to admit she had to agree.

She had tried to summon Capricorn earlier within the gate's presence before she had been thrown into jail, but it only ended in a failed summon.

On the other hand, Loke had been with her and the others as they came here as Hisui opened the gate. While he did admit to being unable to get closer to it than a few meters and that it would absorb him entirely if he were to be in the gate's presents for much longer he had been close to it.

He had been here using his own magic, so perhaps if she summoned the spirits while they also used their own magic, they would be able to stay? No, that didn't make any sense to her. The gate would still absorb the magic and force the spirits back.

"Would you rather continue wasting your time arguing than actually do something, Princess?" The look the man threw Hisui was sharp and cold.

Hisui bit her bottom lip and directed her eyes down to the ground. Lucy could see some tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. It surprised her – but… Lucy could guess how the princess felt. She was after all one the one who had been the one who executed Future-Rouge's plan. She had been his unwitting pawn. Only through her, the whole plan had worked, because she had let herself be manipulated by the man from the future. Now this city and soon her Kingdome were overrun by dragons. Her subject's lives in danger – and she blamed herself.

Lucy could understand where the princess was coming from, where her guilt was coming from.

The man's cold attitude didn't help – it only felt as if he was blaming her.

"No…" The voice was small and soft, unlike that of the strong woman Lucy had met earlier. Now she sounded more like a broken girl. "No, I want to do something. I want to stop this… But how when magic is useless?"

"Do what I say, and you shall see – magic is never useless."

The three celestial mages looked at each other. They were still unsure. How could this stranger help?

 

"If you're finished with small talk. Perhaps you'd like to do something?" Minerva's voice – and the slight urgency in it – cut through the girls' thoughts. The sound of more dragon-offsprings approaching drew closer and closer, they would be here soon. They didn't have any time left to over think things. Lucy closed her eyes. They had no other choice but to trust this stranger. For a second time, she let go of the lever with shaking hands and stood up, her determination visible on her face.

Yukino followed suit, rising to her feet and letting go of the lever.

 

It happened the moment Yukino let go of it.

The whole time there had been a force that had pushed them away. After what the stranger told them, they knew it was the collected magic in the gate, that was keeping it open. It was also that magic that had been pushing them away – the magic they could barely withstand while holding onto the lever. Now that only Hisui was holding onto it, it became oblivious to the naked eye against what force they had been fighting.

The air was vibrating, wind rushing through their hair and small rocks were picked up. The princess was visible pushed back, slipping over the ground on her knees. Even the three girls on their feet – Lucy, Minerva and Yukino – were pushed backwards by the force, they nearly failed to keep their footing. Hisui was already an arm's length away from the lever, holding onto it with little more than the tips of her fingers.

It were just a few small seconds, not even ten, after Yukino had let go. The man had reached out the same second the white-haired girl had let go. His hand clasped around the metal bar. The moment he got hold of the bar the wind died down, and the force that had been pushing them back was pushed back, like it had been when all three of them had been clinging to the lever, fighting against the opposed magic.

Lucy noted how the man didn't seem to have any trouble, unlike them, to hold onto the lever.

Then, to their astonishment, they saw how the man – and it could only have been because of the man, as even together the three girls hadn't managed it – was able to move the lever into the other direction.

Something that the three of them together had been unable to do. He pulled it until it was about halfway into the other direction before he looked Lucy dead in the eye.

 

"Now would be the right time for you two."

The man ripped the two girls out of their astonishment, that had them rooted to the ground.

They hurried over to the place the man had told them to go. Lucy looked at Yukino, who looked at her. They were supposed to summon all the zodiacs at once, but how?

Lucy knew she couldn't summon more than two at once and now she was supposed to summon all ten of the Zodiacs she was contracted to? Putting aside that her magical reserves were as close to empty as they got, she wouldn't be able to. She firmly believed that, but, she didn't have a choice in this.

So, putting aside her doubts, she kneeled down on the ground, unfasten her key from their keychain.

She looked down at the ten golden keys in her hands, shimmering slightly in the nightly lights, she trusted them. Trusted them with her life and the lives of her friends and family. She knew they would never let her down. She closed her eyes, tightening her grip on the golden metal and leant forward, placing her forehead against the cool metal. She couldn't summon them on her own, not all of them at once, but perhaps?

 

' _Please, I need your help guys. All of yours. The Eclipse Gate needs to be closed but I can't – we need your help to close it. I know it's dangerous for you – the Gate, but I'm begging you – please._ ' Tears were running down her face. She knew that what she was asking of them was dangerous, so very dangerous for her friends. The risk of them getting absorbed by the gate, of losing them was so high. She didn't want to lose any of her friends – human and spirit alike –.

She felt how the cold metal turned warm, a soft, soothing warmth.

A gasp from Yukino alerted her that something had happened and a warm hand touched her shoulder.

"Do dry your tears, we're all here."

Lucy's head snapped up, and she swirled around to. It had been Loke, who kneeled beside her and whose hand still rested on her shoulder, who had spoken. And there, there behind the Zodiac leader were the other nine.

Aquarius, urn under her right arm, half turned away from her, levitating next to Scorpio, an annoyed expression fixed on her face. Though Lucy could swear that her eyes seemed to be slightly redder than usual.

Scorpio, next to his girlfriend, a big grin on his face.

Behind him, Taurus, his signature axe strapped to his back.

Cancer with his hairdo and sunglasses, standing beside Taurus.

The twins, Gemini – Gemi and Mini together as always floating between Cancer and Taurus.

Capricorn standing together with Virgo to Taurus's other side.

Sagittarius next to the two in black and white dressed spirits.

Aries was on Aquarius's other side.

"You- you all made it here-" more tears welled up in her eyes. This time from happiness. Time was short, she couldn't dwell on just how they manage to get here, all ten of them, so she didn't.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she gave her spirit a confident smile and rose back to her feet. Her eyes landed on Yukino and her own two zodiacs standing beside her. Libra, the quiet spirit in her exotic dancer outfit and Pisces, the mother and son in their human form.

All twelve zodiacs were there, summoned in one space. In the back of her mind, Lucy wondered if something like this had ever been done before. She saved that thought to ask her otherworldly friends later – they had a gate to close.

The spirits gave a soft nod, showing that they already understood, that they already knew why they were there.

 

It was a mesmerising sight. Watching the spirits light up in golden light, the familiar golden hue – the same gold as the keys – was a comforting sight.

It filled her with warmth. This familiar golden light. It had always been the light of the stars that comforted her during her lonely childhood.

She watched in fascination how the twelve pushed against the gigantic doors. Slowly but surely it started to move - to close. Lucy turned her eyes to Hisui and their strange ally - both still holding onto the leaver. Hisui's face twisted from exhaustion. The man's face was hidden in his hood's shadow. They were still pulling the lever, with every second the spirits pushed the gate doors to a close, the further the leaver moved into the direction they wanted it to.

It didn't take long - even if it felt like an eternity to Lucy - and finally, with a loud thud, the gate doors closed and with a final pull and push the leaver too hit its final destination.

The gate was finally closed. Lucy couldn't help herself - she jumped up in the air fist pimping. They made it! The gate was finally closed!  
Together with Yukino, she hurried over to where Hisui, Minerva and the hooded man. The gate may be closed, and no new dragons pass through, but there were still the dragons left that had already passed through. They needed a plan.

 

"That was fantastic! You two really manage to summon all twelve zodiacs!" The excitement was clear on Hisui's face. It wasn't unexpected. Summoning a zodiac was already a big deal for celestial spirit mages, summoning two a highlight, summoning all twelve - the most incredible thing that could ever happen to one. The man looked at Lucy for a moment. "You're from the Heartfilia clan?"

"Eh?" Lucy looked surprised at the man. Why would he be interested in her family? And Clan? She never heard of her family being referred to as a clan. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia if that's what you want to know, but I have no idea about the whole clan thing." "I see."The man looked at her or a moment longer before he turned back to the gate. The doors were closed shut now, and with a movement of his hand – a waving gesture- and the runes disappeared. Lucy wasn't sure what to think of the men. On the one hand, he helped them, without him they wouldn't have been able to close the gate, on the other hand, he had this strange aura of loneliness to him, and that gave her the creeps. "Is this really the time to celebrate already?" Lucy jerked around and came face to face with the zodiacs. All twelve had moved over to them, their expressions still serious. It had been Aquarius who spook. "We may closed the gate, but the dragons are still here." That was true, Lucy had to admit. They had closed the gate and prevented more dragons from passing through it, but the ones that had already passed were still there. Lucy feared they couldn't beat them.

 

"That is the easiest part now", the hooded man commented off-handly, "we just have to destroy the gate." Again the human girls looked at at the man in confusion. The zodiacs too looked at him, and Lucy could swear she saw something akin to recognition sweep over the faces of Loke and Aquarius before they settled into a neutral expression. "How would that help with the dragons that are already here?" It was Minerva who asked this time. Of course, how could this help? But then Lucy remembered. The dragons were able to come here because future Rouge came into the past using the gate. If they destroyed it now, he would disappear and the dragons too. But would that really work? Future Rouge and the dragons coming through it already happened, after all, didn't it? But the man simply shook his head. "If the gate is closed now, we will cut the connection it has to the future and past, and as neither the dragons, nor the mastermind behind this used the gate properly, and still have their connection to the past, they'll disappear too." What connection? How did he know all this? Lucy didn't know if it was a good idea to trust the stranger even more. He did help them already though, and they didn't have much of another choice, so.

Before they could agree on a plan though the chaos broke out. Well, no that maybe a bit over the top, but still. Loke reached forward and pulled Lucy harshly back. Lucy stumbled and would probably hit the ground if the Lion hadn't been holding onto her wrist, his back facing her now. A golden shield sprung up before them and shadows crushed into it.

 

Future Rouge was here, and by the looks of it, Loke managed to pull her out of harm's way at the last second. The shield was different from the barely noticeable, glimmering light shield, which Loke had shown her earlier. This resembled more her own pathetic attempt at it. It was a thick, bulky sphere shaped collection of golden light. Still, the shielding effect was still more than there. The shadows crashed into the shield and dissolved into nothingness. Lucy blinked, and the shield too disappeared.  
Probably for the best right now. Rouge wasn't just a Shadow Dragon Slayer anymore but also a light Dragon Slayer. Lucy didn't want to imagine what would happen if Rouge had a chance to consume Loke's Regulus.

She caught her footing again as the shield disappeared if it hadn't been for Loke to still hold her wrist she probably would have landed on the ground.

 

"You're…Rouge?" Minerva sounded confused and unsure as she saw the future version of her Guildmate. Lucy couldn't hold it against her, it was a human reaction if it were one of her Guildmates she too wouldn't be able to believe it. That Minerva had been able to recognise Rouge right away, Lucy guessed that the two were closer than Minerva would like to admit. The future Rouge did look different from his present counterpart, he even dressed differently, Lucy had not recognised the Dragon Slayer as she first saw him.

"Well, hello Lady Minerva. How unexpected to see you here." Minerva raised an eyebrow at the future Rouge, her only outwardly reaction to the Dragon Slayers mocking tone. Rouge only gave a mocking smile at this before his eyes fixed on Lucy.

Lucy shuddered. This man held no love for her. If anything he held a deep-rooted hater for her.

"As I see, once again, you closed the gate. Not that it matters. There're fewer dragons than I planned, but still more than enough." He was right, there had been more than enough dragons that passed through the gate.

Lucy gulped. Her hands balled into shaking fists. Her whole body shook, from anger and fear. Black spots appeared at the edge from her vision.

"I take it that you're the one responsible for this?" The hooded man looked at the man from the future with what Lucy guessed was mild interest. Rouge's eyes flitted over at him. A strange glint appearing in his eyes. "I remember you. Aren't you the fool who tried to protect Natsu and died while doing that?"

 

The man died trying to protect Natsu? Lucy looked at said man in surprise, but he didn't seem to mind this knowledge. In fact, from what Lucy could see from his face, he smiled at it.  
"So, you are the one who will finally manage to kill me? Don't make me laugh. We both know that you aren't capable of such a feat." The man spook with confidence as he looked at the time traveller. Lucy feared what future Rouge would do to him, for mocking him so, for suggesting that he was lying now. "But do tell me, who's the one really behind this?" "What are you talking about?"

Rogue frowned the hooded man. But Lucy could see how his hand twitched. Did they hit appoint there? Was perhaps Rouge not the one who really was behind this but just a marionette too? A soft sight came from the man. "I am no fool, boy, I know that to use the Eclipse Gate you'd need the Zodiac keys and a Celestial Spirit mage. For all this to work, you would need the mage to willingly cooperate with you, or you'd be lost in the stream of time."

Rouge's frown turned into a smirk. "Ah yes, your knowledge is quite impressive, it already impressed me the last time we meet – though you weren't in the mood to give me a name to put to your face."

"I'm not in the mood now either. Answer me, who is the helped you?"

Rouge chuckled a dark, malicious chuckle that sent a chill down Lucy's bones. It was the kind of chuckle that made nails on a chalkboard sound like Lyra's singing voice.

"Are you sure you want to know this?" The glint in Rouge eyes turned madder and more malicious than before "are you sure you could stomach the answer?"

The smirk on Rouge's lips made her stomach twist in an uncomfortable manner. It could mean nothing good. The malicious glint in his eyes, with a shadow of twisted amusement. She didn't want an answer to the hooded man's question, nothing good would come from it – she just knew it.

Rouge gave another dark chuckle, his sick amusement so, so painfully oblivious to her.

 

"But why," the time traveller started, seemingly barely keeping himself from cracking up, "it was no other than our dearest Miss Lucy Heartfilia."

 

The reactions were instantaneous. Lucy felt as if someone had poured ice cold water into her veins. Dread settled in her stomach. She misheard him. She had to. Never! Never would she!

His eyes though. His eyes fixed on her face.

The glint of sadistic amusement. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed the effect his word had on her. The others reactions he ignored. Aquarius hurling profanities at him – at least Lucy guessed they were profanities and not compliments. Taurus throwing threats at him. Even Aries, soft-spoken and shy Aries, bleated out insults at the time traveller.

"Be silent." A low hiss, that's how Lucy would have described it, cut through the noises made by the shouting and screaming and roars that filled the place. For a moment she believed it was directed at Rouge – then silence.

Merely the dragons roars still cut through the air.

The Zodiacs had fallen silent on their leader's order.

Lucy could see how Loke's whole form seemed to shake. His left hand twitched, wanting to form into a fist. He was still holding her wrist with the other hand, she could see how it changed. How his usual human hands slowly started to resemble claws. His nails were longer and sharper, if they were just a bit longer they maybe even cut into her skin. His hand was warm – not Natsu warm – but more as in warm like the sun, and they still grew warmer. His whole body probably executed this warmth.

"You're saying that this all is Lucy's plan. Still, you tried to kill her earlier because you knew she would stop this – you said she had stopped this in your time." Loke's voice was calm and even as he spoke, but Lucy couldn't help but feel that just below the surface an flood of anger waited to break free.

 

Rouge smirk didn't falter, instead, it grew even bigger, even madder. "Now, now. Perhaps I should have been a tad clear – I should have expected that your tiny cat brain would be incapable of understanding it", he threw a taunting smirk at Loke, "it was Miss Lucy Heartfilia. Or, to be more precise, the new Miss Lucy Heartfilia."

New her? Lucy didn't understand what he meant with that. How could there be a new her? Or did he just mean that she changed so much, that that her could be considered a new her?

She couldn't change that much that she would want THIS to happen, did she? No, she couldn't.

 

"And I think, I like that Miss Lucy Heartfilia more than this pathetic waste of space. So don't mind me for awaking her." Awaken her? Lucy didn't understand what he meant, and she had no time to think over Rouge's words, as the shadows raised from the ground and attacked.

 

"For that of course, this pathetic thing has to die first."


	8. Chapter 8

It happened so fast – too fast.

The shadows shoot from the grounds. Aiming at her. Her spirits surrounded her, trying to shield her from the attack. But they were cut down by the shadows, one after the other. Only Aquarius and Loke managed to fend the shadows off, without being hit themselves. Aquarius using cascades of water to form a barrier and Loke countering them with Regulus.

"The four of us are going to keep him busy, you need to destroy the gate."

It was Pisces that spoke – the mother of the mother and son team that made up the Pisces summon –, as the zodiacs stepped forward.

"But-!"

Yukino didn't had the time to finish her objections. The four already went and engaged the man from the future into a one against four battle.

"Do you think they'll stand a chance?"

"They better do, or that kitten will get to know an less than pleasant side of me!"

Lucy silently doubted that the woman could get anymore unpleasant than she already was. Not that she corrected her, she valued her health, and she doubted that she could already keep up with the black haired mage.

Minerva turned on her heel and faced the new dragon off-springs that came closer and closer, from the small alleys between the houses and the shadows from the threes.

"You better take care of destroying this thing." Lucy looked at the black haired woman's back with surprise. She stood there with confidence, even knowing how dangerous these monsters were. Rouge was in her back, fighting with four zodiacs and – as far as Lucy could judge it – was keeping his own. They had to destroy this gate to stop this catastrophe. And Minerva was willing to leave that to them? Was willing to protect them? Perhaps she thought that only a Celestial Spirit mage could destroy it? Even then, that she did not chose to fight Rouge herself but left it to the Zodiacs. Was that sign of trust on her part or did she just not want to fight her own Guildmate?

Minerva took a step forward and raised her arms. "And," she started, "don't forget that you're a Sabertooth mage. So…", she threw a look over her shoulder at Yukino. It was a dangerous thought, but Lucy couldn't help but think that Minerva looked worried. "Keep care," and she disappeared in a green swirl of magic only to reappear in the midst of the dragon offsprings.

"Lady Minerva…"

 

"You may fall to your knees and admire her later. Right now, don't you have something else to do – before you run out of magic completely, I mean."

Yukino nodded slightly and the man's words. Lucy agreed, but she doubted that she would be able to stand much longer. Her legs were shaking and her vision was getting darker and darker. The black spots turned bigger and bigger and bigger. Even with her spirits that were in the spirit world, leading her some of their strength it was barely enough to keep her standing.

She really was pathetic, just like Rouge had said. If she was already at the end of her strength now. There were others who were fighting too, way harder and longer than she did. None of them were complaining, but her.

She didn't have any magic to spare either, and there was absolutely no way that she could destroy the gate with her mere physical strength. That was even more than just impossible.

Lucy threw a look at the gate. It was massive, and any other time she would have had admire the architecture talent that went into it – if it hadn't been created by the dark mages Zeref. It wasn't just an impressive architecture, it also had such an impossible magical genius behind it. Lucy doubted that anyone could ever recreate something as impressive as this. That they had to destroy it. It was a horrible crime against knowledge itself. No matter how dark the purpose behind creating and activating it had been. The gate itself was simply and incredible product of genius and talent.

 

"It won't be possible to destroy it with magic. The gate would either absorb it, or repeal whatever we throw at it. The only magic that could destroy it would be Celestial magic, because it had been based on that."

"So, we'd need a physical force strong enough to destroy something from the gate's size?"

Hisui looked at the man in doubted. Lucy recognised the doubt on Hisui's face as the same doubt she was feeling. There was no way that they could bring up a physical force strong enough to destroy it.

The man wasn't bothered by Hisui openly doubting his plan. He mumbled under his breath, while simultaneously moving his right hand through the air as if he was drawing. If he had been using colours, the shapes he had been drawing into the air would have been all circular and geometrical. "What are you doing?"

"Calculating." Was the simple answer he gave them. Never stopping drawing into the air. His calmness was worthy of admiration. They were so close to lose everything and still he was so calm. So incredible calm as if all this didn't truly matter to him.

 

Lucy could feel the air vibrating with magic around them. The ground was shaking. Shouts and growls reached her ears from every direction. The hollowing of falling monsters, the screams of desperation and pain.

They had to stop this, but…

Her eyes flickered over to the stranger.

Underneath his dark rope and big hood he could have been anyone. They knew nothing about him. And, he was the only one who seemed to know how to save everyone

If this was a story, a fairy tale, there would have been no way that he'd be the heroic protagonist. He didn't have this air around him. He didn't cut the heroic figure. Not even now, with the full moon behind him. He dressed in his dark robe, hidden from the world would be more fitting for the aloof ally, the remorseful villain that had a turn of heart, the hero that had been broken.

Why she was thinking this way now, she didn't know. Maybe it was the writer in her? But she couldn't help but think that this man would make the perfect cut for a tragic character in an epic tale.

"That, should work indeed." The man let his hand sink and for the first time how pale his skin was shimmering in the pale moonlight. He must have stayed out of the sun his whole life. Perhaps he had an illness that forced him to hit from the bright star?

"You, girl," he had turned his attention back to Yukino as he started to speak. "You're also contracted to the snake spirit, am I right? Summon him. His reptile form should have enough strength to crush the gate."

"I can't! My and Ophiuchus contact states that-"

Yukino stopped mid-sentence. The blackish silvery light emitting from her hip, where he keys rested, was a tale-telling sign why.

Just like her keys glowed when a spirit contacted her telepathically, Yukino's did too. It was not hard to which spirit contacted her just now.

There was only ever one key that she knew had black in it. The snake charmer, Ophiuchus.

Yukino pulled out the key. Even in the pale light of the night that surrounded them it glinted in its goldish silver colour. The black serpentine sharp warped around the key blade and circled around the white with the snake charmer's crest in it, gave of a disturbing sight against the otherwise pale coloured key.

"He- he says that our contact will be put on hold for the time being and that I may summon him – to destroy the gate."

 

That was… unexpected to say the least. After everything Lucy knew about the snake spirit – from legend and old stories she read as a child about Celestial Spirit magic – painted a rather dark picture about him. The snake spirit in those stories would never ever allow someone to summon them outside of their agreed days and times. No matter how dry the situation was. The snake spirit was cold, ruthless and the closest to evil Lucy ever heard a Celestial Spirit being.

But those were all old stories and tales, of a big bad snake that was so dangerous and evil that the Celestial Spirit King himself had gone and sealed him away.

And who's to say that those tales aren't wrong? According to some tales Ares would have a complete different personality, just like many of her other spirits.

Yeah, the tales she's been told as a child by her teachers had been wrong quite often concerning the Celestial Spirits and their world.

"You can only open two gates at once, right?" Yukino gave a soft nod at the stranger's words. Usual opening two gates was a more than impressive feat for a Celestial Spirit mage, something hardly anyone could do. Lucy could remember the story of Karen Lilica. As much as Lucy despised the woman for how she treated her Spirits and for how her action caused Loke so much grief – and nearly his death – ,she had been one of the most powerful Celestial Spirit mages of her time. Lucy could still remember how her name was printed in every kind of magazine, how often she was displayed in the Sorcerer Weekly, and the stories about her. Loke and Aries both had admitted to her that Karen had in fact been a powerful mages and rightly hold the title as strongest Celestial Spirit mage of her time – a title that did her character no good – but even someone of her power could only open one gate at once. That both Yukino and Lucy could open two at the same times, two zodiac gates at that, was an incredible feat and placed both of them on a higher level than Karen.

But opening more than two gates at once was a feat unheard of. In others words, Yukino could not summon the snake spirit, because she already had Libra and Pisces out.

 

"Send Pisces back," the hooded man stated, "Aquarius cannot use the full extent of her water magic with those two around. They'd be turned into their weaker fish form if they get into contact with water. That's why Aquarius has to hold back on her more powerful spells right now. And in a battle where you cannot defeat your enemy and only slow them down Libra has the advantage over Pieces, because of her gravitation magic."

Yukino shallowed. Her mouth dry. Should she do what the man wanted? Pieces had the advantage of being two for the price of one. But Libra had more of an effect on Rouge with her gravitation magic. She could slow him down while Leo and Aquarius would take care of the offensive and defensive. Could she summon the snake spirit though? She hadn't summoned as many spirits as Lucy, nor has she used any other spells, but she too was exhausted. Did she have enough magic left to summon and control him? She readily admitted that the snake spirit unsettled her. He was in a foul mood on a good day, downright murderous on a normal one and on a bad one… She hoped that she would never be close to him when he had a bad day. Yes, she was contracted to him. Yes, she had summoned him against Kagura as a last resort and yes, she cared for all her spirits. But he… he was just…

On the other hand he willingly offered his help just now. Something Yukino would have never ever expected from her foul mooded spirit. Would he be in an even fouler mood if she did not take him up on his offer? Ophiuchus was someone, that was easily triggered and made his anger known. And he could hold a grudge like no one else. If she did not take him up on the offer, he could see this as an insult.

Yukino sighed. Pieces already had given their agreement to the man's plan. Celestial Spirits always knew their master's thoughts while summoned to a degree – it was so useful in a fight, if they were contracted to someone who knew how to fight probably with them.

 

With a heavy heart she send her fish spirits back. By the look on Rouge's face he was quite surprised about her decision.

No wonder, he and Sting had been her two best friends in Sabertooth – her only ones – and knew how she was unsure about the snake spirit. She wasn't downright scared of him, but she was wary. That she willingly would summon him while still having Libra and Pieces at her back and call, she wouldn't summon him.

 

Lucy nodded how Yukino's hand shook slightly as she pulled out the silver key with the black snake wrapping around it.

Strange. It was strange, Ophiuchus was in some old legend talked about as the thirteenth zodiac, but in the end he only was a silver key. Even so, the key did emitted a slight golden light. And the black snake wrapped around it This was the only key Lucy had seen so far that had another colour than gold or silver in its metal body. Did that have some kind of meaning? Like with the golden keys being the zodiacs keys?

Yukino raised the key sky high, calling out to the snake spirit. Lucy shallowed. She remembered watching this monstrous beast being summoned in Yukino's fight against Kagura. The black-haired swordswoman may had defeated him within seconds, but the mere presence of the snake had send chills down her back.

 

The gigantic snake body wrapped itself around the gate. Even the gate seemed small compared to the snakes gigantic form wrapped around it. Lucy had no doubt that the spirit would be capable of destroying the gate – squeezing it until it shattered – with its body. The question was – could the other three hold back future Rouge long enough for the snake to destroy it?

She turned her head back to the three on one fight between the spirits and Rouge. Now that Pieces was gone Aquarius had changed her pattern of attack. Gone where her attempts at precisely striking Rouge with her water-magic and dissolving them the moment the DragonSlayer dodged them. Now she was covering a much wider area, flooding everything around her. When Rouge dodged she simply changed her attacks direction, or let it fall and used the water around him to attack from a different direction. It was a lot more effective than what she did before, but Lucy could understand why she didn't do it while Pieces was there. There was just no way that the fish spirits would have not gotten in contact with the water.

Libra used her gravitation magic to keep Rouge on the ground, and standing in Aquarius waters, allowing the Water bearer to throw wave after wave, flood after flood at him. Whenever she failed to keep him on the ground, the silent spirit used her power over gravitation to throw rocks and boulders at him.

Loke was the one who kept the man from the future in a lock down, fighting him in hand to hand combat – supported from the distance by Libra and Aquarius – and giving him no chance to try and break out of their battle, denying him any chance to attack anyone else in the area.

They were doing a fantastic job together to keep Rouge busy, but Lucy feared for the moment one of them would run out of magic and be forced to return to the Spirit world.

If it was Aquarius she'd take her cascades of water with her. Rouge would be given – if just a second – a moment to breath, when Aquarius wouldn't cover in between Loke's attack anymore. He could collect his thoughts and counter attack.

With Libra disappearing there would be nothing forcefully keeping him on the ground, he could escape Aquarius's waters and Loke would be forced to fight him on a higher ground where the blue haired spirit could not support him properly anymore.

In case of Loke exhausting his magic there would be no one that kept Rouge from counter attacking Aquarius and Libra, and keeping him in the water covered area. Lucy really needed to talk with Loke at some point which amounts of water actual weaken him and which not.

 

'Please hurry Ophiuchus', Lucy thought as she returned her gaze back to the gate and the snake spirit. The snake maybe wrapped around the whole gate and maybe used all his strength to destroy the gate, but the gate was sturdy. Hardly a crack in it. How unfair was that? There they were so close to victory, they all did what they could and the only thing standing between them and victory was this monstrous gate that refused to shatter.

"Makes one regret, to have built it to withstand even extreme forces." The hooded man sighed softly behind Lucy, barely audible, but she still heard him. Yeah, she would agree with him, who build the gate would probably regret making it this sturdy – if it hadn't been the dark wizard Zeref. She doubted someone like him would regret this. No, Lucy was quite sure, if he would still be alive he'd probably relish in this mess, that his creation played a key role in it.

It took a second for Lucy to realise what happened. One moment Ophiuchus was wrapped around the gate, trying to shatter it with its body, the next it unwrapped and threw its massive body in front of them – taking a blow for them.

 

Smoke cleared, and the snake gave an angry hiss. Lucy saw the dark scorch against his glinting scales.

Something dripped down. A thick, dark liquid was running along the dark scales and dripped to the ground. Dark and red, decorating the stone floor beneath. Blood. Ophiuchus's blood was running along its scales and hitting the ground like rain drops.

Another angry his, forked tongue angry shooting out of the snakes mouth. He was hissing at something above, the thing that had attacked them.

Lucy looked up and saw it. Covered from head to toe in burning flames was a dragon. A dragon that was under Rouge's command right now. A dragon that attacked them on Rouge's command.

They hadn't even noticed the incoming danger, if it hadn't been for Ophiuchus throwing itself between the attack and them, they would had been reduced to nothing more than ashes.

"Atlas Flame…", the man murmured, he too had raised his head to have proper look at the burning dragon. So he recognised the dragon? Where from? Did he know him in this time or did he studied dragons at that one was just some really famous one?

"You know about him?" The question was asked by Hisui. Lucy could hear a trembling, even if the princess tried to sound confident. She couldn't blame her. Not with the flaming beast above them. With its flaming body against the dark night sky. Tonight even the starts and the full moon seemed darker than usual. It was a terrifying picture.

Lucy wished Natsu was here – he was the Fire Dragon Slayer! He would have been completely in his element against a dragon like that. But Natsu had stayed back in the castle to fight Rouge, and now that Rouge was here…

 

What had happened to Natsu? Her teeth sunk into her trembling bottom lip. No! No! Even if Natsu had lost against Rouge he - He wasn't! He couldn't!

 

She had to stop thinking such things! Natsu would be fine! He may lost but he wouldn't be! He was too strong to simply roll over and bite the dust! After this was over they would find him unconscious somewhere and wake him. He would be annoyed to have missed all the action. He would start a fight with Gray and everything, everything would be alright.

"That's one way to say it. He used to be the right hand of Igneel, the King of the Fire Dragons."

Igneel. The sound of the name broke Lucy out of her downwards spiral of desperation. Igneel, the one who had found Natsu and raised him. The one who taught Natsu magic.

If what the man said was right, then this Dragon was close with him. And if he was close to Igneel, the one who raised Natsu to be the one he was today, then this Atlas Flame could not be a bad Dragon. But, he attacked. He too came through that gate. That meant he too was under the control of future Rouge.

A low hissing sound, Lucy recognised it as coming from Ophiuchus. The giant snake was still wrapped half around the gate, the other half between them and Atlas Flame. He gave another hiss at the Dragon. Was he trying to talk to him?

"I find it surprising that he would attack us. Your friend from the future seems to have an iron grip on his will." The man stated as he watched another ball of fire hit the snake spirit. "He would never do something like this otherwise."

"Is there a way to break it?" Hisui asked timidly.

"Igneel surely could. I am not stupid enough to try. Dragons are mostly unaffected by our magic." Lucy's heart sunk at the man's words. So they couldn't do anything? How was that fair? Her future-self had come here to give them a chance to fight back, to help them! And they had come so far. They managed to close the gate and had wizards all over the city here, trying to fight back against the dragons. But in the end, so close to finishing this they failed? That was so, so unfair!

 

A loud crash. A wave of heat from behind. For a painful second Lucy thought this was it as the wind brushed past her from the explosion of heat. The Spirits that had engaged Rouge into a fight were thrown back and Rouge – Rouge stood in a burning inferno.

Fire. Something had sat him on fire. Lucy could hear him shout in pain. The smell of burned flesh reached her nose. She wanted to gag.

The Shadow Dragonslayer sprung out of the flames. He had only been in there for a second top, but the flames had done a number on him. His cloths were torn and blackened. Scorch marks decorating his previously pale skin, angry red and black burns where the flames had eaten the flesh away. The long hair burned off to a shoulder length. He had only been in there for a short moment but the flames had done their job at tearing on his flesh. A small flame still flickered at his shoulder, but he managed to put it out without greater trouble.

 

"What was that?", Yukino's voice shook as she spook. No wonder, no matter what would happen to him in the future, right now Rouge was still a dear friend of hers and she just saw him nearly getting burned alive.

The fire pillar that had enclosed Rouge in its angry red-bluish flames disappeared, leaving only a black scorch mark back on the ground.

"That was… but that would mean…", the man too seemed surprised at what happened. Though unlike the rest of them he did seem to have an idea about what just happened.

He moved his head, Lucy thought perhaps he searched for the origin of the flames, she did the same. Not that she had to look around for long.

A growl came from the castle that drew her gaze there. Her eyes widen. A sob escaped her throat. She was shaking. From fear or from relief. She didn't know.

There, coming from the castle, steam rolling off of the heated body, flames dancing around him raising sky high, strange patters marking his skin and a scowl on his face – a terrifying look – was Natsu.

 

Or someone that looked like Natsu.

 

Lucy had seen Natsu angry and annoyed on multiple occasions, saw him raging in anger and truly pissed off before, but never, never before had she seen him look this murderous, bestial – downright terrifying.

She was, as unimaginable as it always seemed to her, scarred at seeing her friend.

Future Rouge too had seen him approaching. A cocky smirk on his lips that dissolved nearly as fast as the ground beneath Natsu's feets started to melt at the power that rolled off of the salamander.

Lucy saw Natsu raise his arm and swing it from left to right in a great circle.

 

"Dodge!"

 

Flames erupted from his arm, shooting in a crescent moon at the man from the future. Uncaring, unbothered by whatever was in their way.

The spirits, that too had been in the flames way, dodged the blazing wave in the last moment. If it would have hit them…

That Natsu used such an attack, uncaring about his own friends and allies…

Rouge had to summon walls of light and shadows to guard himself from the ferocious flames. Even where she stood, shielded by Rouge's barrier and so far behind him, Lucy could feel the burning heat.

An explosion where flames meet light and shadows. A pressure wave, strong enough to break trees and smoke covering the man from the future.

Lucy shook from head to toe. This was, this was a terrifying display of power, something she hadn't seen, hadn't felt before.

She could only stand and watch as Natsu dashed forward, into the smoke and disappearing.

"Is that… is that really Natsu?", her voice was barely above a whisper, shaking and trembling.

The hooded man too looked at the smoke cloud, his head tilted slightly forward, his face hidden even more in the shadow the hood casted over it, only his mouth – lips pressed tightly pressed together in a thin line – and the tip of his nose still visible. But he didn't answer her question.

 

With a swish of his cloak he turned around, turning his back to the smoke hiding the two Slayers from sight, turning back towards Ophiuchus shielding them from Atlas Flames' flaming attacks.

"I am not foolish enough to break this spell, but, for the past's sake, we can't destroy Atlas," he was talking with a monotonous voice, as if he wasn't talking about taking down a burning dragon, like he was only talking about last week's weather, "but we need to distract him, otherwise Ophiuchus won't be able to concentrate on destroying the gate." An angry hiss came from the snake, this time directed at the man.

"What about Natsu and Rogue, if-"

"Right now Rogue is not a concern. Na- That boy is keeping him busy," the man stumbled over his own words for a moment when he tried to call Natsu by his name. "Your spirits maybe exhausted, but right now we need them to distract Atlas. Or…"

 

-{~"~}—

 

Sting raced through the streets, Rogue, his partner and friend, hot on his heels. They were heading towards the palace; the direction the dragons had come from.

Rogue doubted that the king had been secretly keeping a bunch of dragons under the palace just for them to break free and attack. He was the one to suggest to his friend that a kind of teleportation magic had been used that had brought the dragons here. Going by that logic, he suggested that if they lured them back there, whatever magic that summoned them in the first place could be used to send them back.

That was why the two DragonSlayers were now running through the streets, with two dragons hot on their heels, towards the palace.

They were so close already. Not much further. They could already hear fighting not too far away. A pillar of flames rose to the sky.

Both boys looked each other and nodded, before dashing forwards even faster than before.

 

-{~"~}—

 

The man raised a hand and a magic seal appeared before it. Blue and silver, shimmering – beautiful against the dark – it released a tsunami towards the burning dragon and the flames it spat at them.

Water hit flames and turned into hissing white steam, both attacks negating each other.

Magic seals, Rune magic, fire magic, magic that could easily kill the dragons' offspring, water magic that could keep a dragon's flame at bay and an incredible magical knowledge. Just who was this man?

Another wave of water shot past Lucy. Aquarius, too, was attacking the dragon.

 

With Natsu – was it really Natsu? – keeping future Rogue busy, the Spirits had returned to her and Yukino's side, helping against Atlas Flame and the dragons' offspring, allowing Ophiuchus to return his attention to destroying the gate.

The three girls couldn't do much anymore after all. The whole day, they used such much magic in this already. Lucy knew, she could barely keep the gates of her spirits open - and that with Loke actually using his own magic to meet her halfway and take some of the strain off of her. Aquarius did the same.

Still, even though they did that, her reserves were as good as empty. She couldn't do much more than watch. Watch and pray. Hoping that their side would be victorious. How utterly pathetic and useless.

 

Flames devoured the man from the future and threw him back into the castles wall.

Lucy shallowed as she watched the display of magic before her. It was Natsu, for sure. Even now she could feel this familiarity that she came to associate with his magic. But, it was so faint. Pushed down, shrunken by the... what was it actually? What was it that changed Natsu's magic to this... dangerous?

It was as if a shadow, an incredible darkness had laid itself above the shining light of Natsu's flames. Shallowed them and twisted them into this - this corrupted version of them.

Natsu stood there. All alone, small flickers of flames leaking all over his skin. The angry dark runes on his skin being highlighted by them. Small bolts of smoke streamed from his body. The so well-known from of her best friend, her first actual human friend that befriended her for her and not her name, the form of one of her most trusted friends...

Was now terrifying her to no end.

 

The flames flickered, a slight twitch of his shoulders and then the flames awoke with new furry, jumping into a completely different direction from where his opponent laid in a great pill of rubble.

An alarmed shout of righteous anger travelled over the area. Shadows sprang from the ground, trying to stop the flames. They broke apart as soon as the flames hit.

Lucy could only watch in horror as her brain caught up with what was happening. As she realised what happened.

Natsu – kind and caring Natsu – had attacked Rogue. Not the Rogue from the future, not the one who was actively trying to destroy everything and take over the world. No it was the Rogue from this time. The one who was fighting against this inversion. The one who, right now, was their ally.

Natsu had attacked him without any hesitation. He had attacked as soon as Rogue had appeared between two walls. As soon as he had been in sight.

Rogue had barely managed to save himself from the angry flames by throwing up a wall of shadows and at the same time sinking into the shadows beneath him. Now he reappeared on the opposite side of Natsu. His face – Lucy saw it only for a moment under the castle lights – was darken by ash, his expression confused.

Like hers probably was.

Why? Why did Natsu do that?

A feeling of dread settled in her stomach as she saw how Natsu's right foot moved, slid over the ground as he changed his posture. The marks on his skin more eerie than ever in her eyes, standing out more and more against his skin.

A grand circle of flame erupted around him, enveloping him fully as the flames shoot up.

 

"No"

He rushed forward, not giving Rogue a moment to collect himself.

"Please"

She clasped her hands over her mouth, trying to silent the sobs building up in her throat as she watched the screen unfold.

"Natsu"

Tears stung in her eyes.

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe what was happening in front of her. Yes, Natsu always was eager to battle – foe and friend alike – but this, this was something completely different. This wasn't Natsu looking for a friendly all-out battle to see who was stronger. This wasn't Natsu trying to stop an enemy from winning. No this was- This was… This was a monstrous possession. Something, something dark and twisted, something that was only out for destruction had taken over Natsu.

But, a small voice in the back of her mind whispered, why was it not attacking anything else but Rogue if it only wanted destruction?

Rogue managed to dodge into the shadows at the last possible moment. For a moment Lucy thought he managed to escape the attack again, but it had been for naught.

A flaming hand reached into the shadows after Rogue and dragged him forcefully out of them. Lucy could see the fear written all over Rogue's face as it happened. She saw how the flaming monster hurled Rogue back into the middle of the plaza. Rogue landed with a horrible crashing sound as the ground gave in beneath him and the Shadow DragonSlayer ended up laying in a crater created by his impact.

The flaming beast walked towards the crater. Slowly, staggering. Behind it the flames reached higher and higher, glowing red prints were left behind from it steps. It had reached a temperature hot enough to melt the ground under his feet.

What a monster.

But… but somewhere, somewhere in there.

Somewhere in there had to be Natsu. Natsu had to be still in there. He had to. **He had to**. His mind couldn't have been so completely taken over. Somewhere deep inside that monster had to be Natsu and he had to be fighting against that monster taking over him.

 

She didn't even think those things consciously. Later she couldn't even tell anymore if she was thinking as her body sprang into action. Right now, right then as her feet raced over the ground, she couldn't even tell if Hisui and Yukino shout after her or if it was just her imagination later that Aquarius had tried grab and stop her. She couldn't tell if she was shouting at Natsu to stop or not.

The only thing that she knew was that she had to stop Natsu somehow, no matter what, because he would never be able to live with himself if he were to seriously harm – or even kill – Rogue and that was why her body moved.

She came to a halt before the crater, right before this monster in Natsu's body.

"Natsu!", her own voice was strange to her ears as she stood there with her arms spread in an attempt to stop her friend. Her eyes stung even more from the massive heat rolling off of the beast. She could feel her whole body shake. From exhaustion and fear, but she couldn't – wouldn't – move aside. Even if she had no strength in her body left, even if she couldn't summon one spark of magic up anymore, she had to get Natsu back to his senses somehow – and if her voice was the last thing she had she would use it.

"Stop this, Natsu! Please!" The tears were now freely running down her face as she kept her eyes firmly locked on her friends burning form.

The monster raised his arm – Lucy could see the Fairy Tail Guild Mark on his shoulder, surrounded by these strange marks that swirled all over Natsu's body – its fist burning as it drew back its arm.

" **I'M BEGGING YOU NATSU PLEASE STOP!** "

The monster stopped, halted in his movement like a statue. Lucy kept her eyes locked with the scarlet eyes of the monster before her. She was sure that now, every moment now her legs would finally give him. The monster's fist shook, as it snarled at her, as if something – someone – was holding his arm in a tight grip keeping it from moving.

"Natsu, please. I'm begging you."

Slowly, the snarl disappeared, the marks lighten, the flames shrinking and disappearing, slitted pupils returning to their normal shape.

"Lu- Lucy…" It was a soft barely audible whisper that escaped his mouth as finally, finally, the scarlet iris returned to the kind black she knew and loved.

"Natsu", a sob escaped her throat as she saw the last marks disappear completely. He was back Natsu – her Natsu – the kind Natsu was back.

"Lucy", he stumbled as he took a shaky step forward and she was there to catch him. They sunk to the ground, Natsu limb in her arms as she hugged him close to her.

"You're okay", he mumbled into her shoulder, "that's good. I'm relieved… you're okay."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my Beta Rainiebug (Fanfiction.net name)


End file.
